lliis: 


LIBRARY 

RSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


NOTES 


—  TAKEN  IN  — 


SIXTY    YEARS 


"Let  us  keep  the  feast  not  with  old  leaven,  nor  with  the  leaven  of  malice  and  wicked 
ness,  but  with  the  unleavened  bread  of  sincerity  and  truth."— Paul  to  Corinthians,  v.9. 


BY  RICHARD  SMITH  ELLIOTT, 


Of  St.   Louis,  Missouri,  U.  S.   A. 


ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 
R.  P.  STUDLEY  &  Co.,  PRINTERS,  LITHOGRAPHERS  AND  STATIONEKS. 

1883. 


LIBRARY 

DIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


Entered  according  to  the  act  of  Congress, 

BY  EICHA.RD  SMITH  ELLIOTT, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


Single  copies  of  this  Book  will  be  mailed  to  any  address  for 
$2.OO  in  cash. 

On  larger  orders  reasonable  deductions  will  be  made. 

Orders   may   be  sent   to  B.  P.  Studley  <fe  Co.,  221    N.  Main 
street,  St.  Louis,  or  to  the  undersigned. 

Persons  desiring  to  act  as  Agents  (to  whom  liberal  discount 
will  be  allowed)  will  please  address 

B.  S.  ELLIOTT, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 


EXTRACT 

From  JOHN  BUNYAN'S  Apology  for  his  BOOK,  taken  from  an  edition  of  PILGRIM'S  PROGRESS, 
printed  in  1775.  As  John  died  in  1688,  these  lines  are  probably  200  years  old,  and  we  must 
give  them  a  chance  to  survive  till  A.D.  2084. 


More  than  twenty  things,  which  I  set  down , 
This  done,  I  twenty  more  had  in  my  Crown ; 
And  they  again  began  to  multiply 
Like  Sparks  that  from  the  Coals  of  Fire  do  fly. 
Nay,  then,  thought  I,  if  that  you  breed  so  fast, 
I'll  put  you  by  yourselves,  lest  you  at  last 
Should  prove  ad  infinitum.    *       *       *       * 
*****       Yet  I  did  not  think 
To  show  to  all  the  World  my  Pen  and  Ink 
In  such  a  Mode ;  I  only  thought  to  make 
I  knew  not  what:  Nor  did  I  undertake 
To  please  my  neighbour ;  no,  not  I ; 
I  did  it  my  own  self  to  gratify. 


1  Thus  I  set  Pen  to  Paper  with  Delight, 
And  quickly  had  my  Thoughts  in  Black  and*  White. 
For  having  now  my  Method  by  the  End, 
Still  as  I  pull'd,  it  came ;  and  so  I  penn'd 
It  down ;  until  it  came  at  last  to  be 
For  Length  and  Breadth  the  Bigness  which  you  sw, 

—Well,  when  I  had  thus  put  my  Ends  together 
I  showed  them  others,  that  I  might  see  whether 
They  would  condemn  them,  or  them  justify : 
And  some  said,  let  them  live ;  some,  let  them  die ; 
Some  said,  John,  print  it;  others  said,  Not  so ; 
Some  said  it  might  do  Good;  others  said  No. 
Now  I  was  in  a  btreight,  and  did  not  see 
Which  was  the  best  Thing  to  be  done  by  me ; 
At  last  I  thought,  since  ye  are  thus  divided, 
I  print  it  will,  and  so  the  Case  decided. 

For,  thought  I,  some  I  see  would  have  it  done, 
Though  others  in  that  Channel  do  not  run: 
To  prove,  then,  who  advised  for  the  best, 
Thus  I  Bought  fit  to  put  it  to  the  Test." 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

>REFATORY  BUT  NOT  APOLOGETIC  —  FOREFATHERS  —  DATE  OF  AN  IMPORT 
ANT  EVENT  —  PARALLEL  BETWEEN  N.  BONAPARTE  AND  THE  WRITER  — 
EXILE— EARLY  RECOLLECTIONS  —  OLD-SCHOOL  PEOPLE  AND  TIMES  — 
THE  LADY  TEACHER'S  CONUNDRUM  —  LINES  ON  A  TRUE-HEARTED  MAN 
—  SELF-PROPELLING  NORMAL  SCHOOL— HINT  AT  DESTINY. 

Ben.  Franklin,  Sol.  Smith  and  Horace  Greeley  have  written  of  them 
selves  and  their  times.  So  have  Arago,  Lamartine,  and  many  others. 
Abler  men  than  I,  no  doubt ;  but,  because  Jupiter  is  a  great  planet,  do  we 
say  the  little  star  shall  not  twinkle  ?  And  why,  then,  may  not  I,  too,  write 
modestly  of  myself  and  my  times  ? 

As  it  would  make  the  book  too  big  for  any  writer  to  tell  all  the  truth 
about  himself,  I  need  not  tell  distasteful  things.  It  is  therefore  a  safe  busi 
ness  to  write  a  Memoir,  as  anything  one  would  rather  not  tell  can  be  left 
out ;  and  if  I  think  of  any  dubious  things  in  my  own  life,  I  can  pass  them 
over.  Great  slices  of  the  actual  life  of  any  man  must  be  thrown,  aside, 
whether  he  or  another  tells  the  tale;  but  if  the  reader  hankers  after  the 
untold,  thinking  it  might  be  savory  with  peccadillos  or  the  like,  let  him 
imagine  the  void  filled  with  his  own  shortcomings,  and  he  need  not  care  to 
feast  on  those  of  men  no  better  than  himself. 

Noah  Webster  (whose  blue-backed  spelling-book  is  remembered  with 
lingering  affection  from  childhood)  defines  a  Memoir  to  be  "  a  history  com 
posed  from  personal  experience  and  memory  ;  a  history  lacking  method  and 
completeness."  This  definition  was  made  for  me,  as  what  I  aim  to  write, 
while  autobiographical  to  some  extent,  and  reminiscent,  will  be  apt  to  lack 
method  and  completeness.  Still,  though  my  little  dish  may  not  be  very 
nutritive  or  high-flavored,  it  may  yet  have  the  spice  of  variety,  and,  like 
the  famous  ragout  of  Theroii  Bamum's  old  City  Hotel,  may  turn  out  to  be 
the  best  dish  of  the  kind  to  be  found  anywhere. 


2  NOTES   TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

As  I  am  of  sad  and  melancholy  temperament,  it  may  happen  that  a 
streak  of  something  like  humor  may  now  and  then  get  into  my  work,  as 
the  naughty  gray  gets  into  Madame's  hair,  but  I  shall  keep  all  such  out 
as  well  as  I  can. 

I  trust  not  to  be  too  egotistical ;  but  egotism  in  print  is  not  always  offen 
sive.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  sometimes  very  pleasant,  and  we  give  our 
hearts  to  the  writer,  even  while  he  gossips  only  of  himself.  He  may,  in 
deed,  be  only  doing  what  we  would  like  to  do  for  ourselves,  if  we  could  do 
it  as  well.  It  is  egotism  in  talk  that  wearies  and  offends.  We  cannot  put 
the  talker  on  a  shelf  when  tired  of  his  chatter. 

Necessarily  I  must  write  of  myself,  but  will  treat  of  so  many  other  per 
sons  and  so  many  things,  that  my  personality  will  be  only  a  string  to  hang 
pearls  on,  as  I  shall  write  mainly  of  what  I  have  seen,  read,  or  heard,  rather 
than  of  my  own  sayings  and  doings.  There  may  not  always  be  pearls  on 
the  string,  and  the  men  and  things  may  at  times  be  more  like  the  dried 
apples  hung  up  of  old  by  the  chimney,  or  the  red  peppers  festooning  the 
adobe  houses  in  New  Mexico ;  but  the  apples  and  peppers  are  good  enough 
when  properly  served  up. 

I  am  not  prompted  to  write  by  vanity  or  inordinate  self-appreciation. 
Unfortunately,  I  have  always  been  lacking  in  vanity  and  self-esteem,  which 
are  qualities  essential  to  the  best  use  of  the  faculties.  Conceit  and  confi 
dence  in  one's  self  are  convertible  terms,  and  self-reliance  is  the  parent  of 
achievement. 

Washington  Irving,  in  his  fiction  of  Diedrich  Knickerbocker — so  like 
truth  that  he  doubtless  believed  the  story  while  telling  it — begins  at  the 
creation  of  the  world,  but  I  shall  not  go  back  so  far,  as  it  may  be  granted 
that  this  was  a  very  passable  world  even  before  I  came  into  it,  but  has 
grown  amazingly  since.  Nor  shall  I  weary  the  reader  with  tedious  ances 
tral  details.  Let  it  suffice  that  my  forefathers  were  among  the  first  fami 
lies  of  Pennsylvania,  in  old  Cumberland  county,  having  found  it  convenient 
to  leave  the  British  Isles  after  the  rebellion  of  1745.  Good  people  in  their 
way,  those  forefathers,  but  on  the  losing  side  in  politics,  and  hence  had  to 
come  over  the  salt  sea.  They  were  rebels  again  in  1776,  but  were  trans 
muted  into  patriots  by  winning  the  fight.  But  behold  how  one's  fate  may 
be  influenced  by  circumstances  entirely  beyond  his  control !  If  the  Stuart 
heir  had  won  his  crown,  those  forefathers  of  mine  might  never  have  come 
over  the  sea,  and  I  might  never  have  been  born  at  all,  or  born  a  foreigner. 

As  events  turned  out,  I  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  on  the  tenth  day  of 
July,  Anno  Domini  1817. 

Tradition  holds  that  I  was  a  remarkable  child.  Everybody  within  hear 
ing  remarked  on  my  infant  utterance,  crude  as  it  was.  I  could  out-scream 
any  child  in  the  State.  "The  Grossest  baby  in  the  Commonwealth,"  they 
said  of  me,  and  li&ened  me  to  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  who  from  all  accounts 
was  one  of  the  most  petulant  and  disagreeable  children  that  ever  lived. 
His  parents,  however,  loved  and  admired  him,  and  mine  loved  and  admired 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  3 

me.  But  here  the  parallel  between  N.  B.  and  myself  seems  to  end.  There 
has  been  little  other  parity  in  our  careers.  He  grew  up  in  a  time  of  turmoil, 
and  had  a  chance  to  fight  his  way  to  the  Consulate  and  Empire.  I  grew  up 
in  a  quiet  time,  when  there  was  no  chance  to  pick  up  a  crown  at  the  point  of 
one's  sword. 

N.  Bonaparte  is,  I  think,  the  most  illustrious  character  in  profane  his 
tory  ;  and  in  some  respects  the  most  detestable.  He  did  wonders,  but  with 
all  his  genius  he  lacked  good  sense,  or  he  would  never  have  marched  to 
Moscow.  That  Russian  campaign  began  his  ruin.  But  in  common  life  men 
are  constantly  marching  to  Moscow — prosperous  for  a  time,  and  then  peril 
ing  all  on  some  big  enterprise,  that  fails  at  last  and  ruins  them.  Commerce, 
manufactures,  mines,  and  even  politics,  are  full  of  these  Napoleons,  who 
bravely  march  on,  and  perish.  The  world  often  gains  by  their  ventures, 
but  they  must  abdicate  and  go  into  exile  all  the  same.  On  his  lone  isle  in 
the  South  Sea  Napoleon  dictated  a  skeleton  Memoir.  I  write  a  truthful  one 
from  unmerited  exile  in  the  sad  solitude  of  crowds. 

My  first  recollection  is  of  a  wrong  suffered.  My  loving  mother  spanked 
me  for  throwing  into  the  fire  one  of  my  socks,  and  as  I  was  really  not 
guilty,  this  unjust  punishment  filled  my  little  heart  with  agony. 

My  next  recollection  is  of  a  horrible  dream,  when,  in  the  silence  of  the 
night,  the  room  was  filled  with  the  "bears"  which  I  had  been  assured 
would  "  eat"  me  if  I  was  not  "good,"  just  as  those  bears  in  the  Bible  ate 
the  little  bad  boys  who  mocked  Elisha.  Each  foot  seemed  to  be  as  big  as 
my  body ;  I  could  not  move  or  cry  out,  and  expected  every  moment  to  be 
devoured. 

My  next  recollection  is  of  an  effort  in  science.  I  asked  my  father  how 
fire  was  made,  and  he  replied  "  by  flint  and  steel."  There  the  investiga 
tion  ended.  I  knew  fire  was  made  by  flint  and  steel,  but  what  these  were  I 
did  not  find  out  till  some  time  afterwards. 

Thus  my  three  earliest  recollections  are  of  a  wrong  suffered,  a  dream  of 
horror,  and  a  fruitless  pursuit  of  knowledge.  False  testimony  brought  the 
injustice.  The  dream  was  the  action  of  imagination,  excited  by  the  sad 
fate  of  the  naughty  boys  who  perished  for  saying  "  go  up,  thou  baldhead." 
I  had  almost  wept  for  those  little  boys.  My  failure  in  science  was  my 
father's  fault;  he  ought  to  have  replied  more  fully  to  my  question,  as  with 
due  encouragement  I  might  have  become  a  philosopher.  Children  wish  to 
learn,  and  their  education  goes  on  to  advantage  long  before  they  go  to 
school. 

I  cannot  recollect  much  of  my  first  school.  There  was  a  shallow  pond 
near  it,  and  one  winter  day  the  boys  were  sliding  across  it  on  ice  so  thin 
that  it  bent  under  us.  At  length  it  broke,  and  I  went  down  to  my  armpits. 
I  was  nearly  frozen  when  I  got  home,  where  I  was  "  warmed  up"  as  they 
called  it,  with  a  whipping.  This  I  thought  unfair.  I  felt  the  honest 
resentment  of  an  injured  boy,  and  determined  to  go  on  the  ice  again,  thick 
or  thin,  the  very  first  opportunity. 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

All  I  remember  clearly  of  this  school  is  that  we  had  for  reading  books 
the  "Introduction  to  the  English  Reader,"  the  " English  Reader,"  and  the 
"Sequel  to  the  English  Reader  " — all  containing  pieces  suited  to  the  differ 
ent  classes.  One  of  my  favorite  pieces  was  that  beginning — 

"  Pity  the  sorrows  of  a  poor  old  man, 
Whose  trembling  limbs  have  borne  him  to  your  door:  " 

and  I  always  had  before  me  in  imagination  the  figure  of  that  old  man. 
How  deeply  I  felt  his  woes  !  He  was  a  real  old  man  to  me,  and  I  longed  to 
actually  see  him  in  his  rags  and  tatters,  and  give  him  something.  The 
sympathy  for  the  needy  excited  so  long  ago  is  hardly  worn  out  even  now, 
yet  the  old  man  of  the  poem  was  possibly  not  real,  but  only  a  fancy  man  all 
the  time. 

A  poem  rehearsing  the  dispute  of  three  travelers  about  the  color  of  the 
chameleon  interested  us  so  much,  that  we  hunted  along  the  fences,  hoping 
to  find  chameleons,  and  ascertain  their  color  for  ourselves.  The  "Three 
Warnings"  (by  Mrs.  Thrale,  Dr.  Johnson's  friend  and  patron)  was  also  a 
favorite.  It  is  a  pretty  little  poem,  with  a  moral : 

"  On  neighbor  Dodson's  wedding  day, 
Death  called  aside  the  jocund  groom 
With  him  into  another  room 
And  looking  grave, '  You  must,'  said  he, 
Quit  your  sweet  bride  and  come  with  me.'  " 

But  Mr.  Dodson,  just  married  as  he  was,  did  not  like  to  go,  and  begged 
off— finally  getting  a  promise  from  Death  that  he  would  give  him  three 
warnings  before  calling  again.  Years  passed,  and  Dodson  was  happy.  At 
length  Death  called,  when  the  old  man,  surprised  by  the  visit,  told  him  he 
had  not  had  the  promised  warnings.  Death  inquired  the  state  of  Mr.  D.'s 
health,  when  it  appeared  that  he  had  an  ailing  in  his  legs,  his  hearing  was 
defective,  and  his  eyes  were  failing ;  whereupon  Death  says  to  him : 

"  '  If  you  are  lame,  and  deaf,  and  blind, 
You've  had  your  three  sufficient  warnings, 
So  come  along,  no  more  we'll  part,' 
He  said,  and  touched  him  with  his  dart." 

I  do  not  know  what  kind  of  poetry  or  verses  they  read  in  schools  now-a- 
days,  but  I  doubt  if  they  have  anything  better  liked  by  the  pupils,  or 
indeed  of  more  intrinsic  value,  than  the  pieces  in  the  old  books  which  we 
had  and  enjoyed  before  the  advent  of  the  book  agent. 

My  next  school  was  in  a  log  cabin,  with  a  door  011  one  side  and  a  window 
on  the  other.  The  window  was  made  by  cutting  out  a  log,  fixing  a  frame 
in  the  opening,  and  pasting  greased  paper  over  it  as  a  substitute  for  glass  ; 
and  along  the  window,  inside,  a  smooth  board  was  the  writing  desk.  We 
made  our  "  pot-hooks  and  hangers"  oil  the  old-fashioned  fools-cap  paper, 
with  untrimmed  edges  and  unruled  surfaces,  that  we  ruled  ourselves,  using 
lead  pencils  made  by  pounding  bullets  into  the  required  shape.  Our  pens 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  5 

were  genuine  goose  quills,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  no  little  pride  with  the 
"  master  "  that  he  could  make  and  mend  a  pen  skillfully.  I  do  not  remem 
ber  the  name  of  that  master,  but  he  may  have  been  of  kin  to  the  one  who 
taught  in  the  "  Deserted  Village,"  as  told  by  Dr.  Goldsmith,  for  in  the 
families  where  he  boarded  round,  as  well  as  among  his  pupils, 

"  The  wonder  grew, 
That  one  small  head  could  carry  all  he  knew." 

Our  studies  at  those  primitive  schools  were  reading,  writing  and  arith 
metic.  To  read  aloud  well,  to  write  a  fair  round  hand,  and  to  "  cypher 
through  the  book,"  were  accomplishments.  I  could  read  passing  well,  but 
fell  behind  in  writing  and  cyphering.  My  gift  of  reading  aloud  so  well  may 
have  been  hereditary,  as  my  good  father,  even  before  I  was  born,  and  while 
he  was  yet  quite  a  young  man,  had  great  local  repute  for  his  excellent  read 
ing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  on  the  Fourth  of  July. 

A  later  school  was  taught  by  a  lady,  but  all  I  recollect  of  it  is,  that  com 
ing  in  late  one  afternoon,  I  found  the  pupils  all  posed  by  the  question : 
"  Who  was  the  father  of  Zebedee's  children?"  None  could  tell,  and  when 
the  question  was  put  to  me  I  gained  much  credit  by  the  hap-hazard  reply, 
that  I  supposed  it  was  Mr.  Zebedee  himself.  But  I  have  never  had  any 
adequate  means  of  verifying  the  correctness  of  this  answer. 

There  were  no  common  schools  in  Pennsylvania  then.  Tuition  had  to  be 
paid  for  by  the  "  quarter,"  and  in  some  rural  districts  the  teachers  "boarded 
round,"  a  week  or  two  at  a  time  in  the  homes  of  the  pupils,  as  part  of  their 
compensation.  My  dear  old  friend  and  neighbor,  Professor  J.  L.  Tracy, 
who  in  his  youthful  days  taught  school  in  that  state,  has  often  told  me  of 
his  varied  and  piquant  experiences  when  he  boarded  round  among  his 
patrons.  The  good  professor  (who  in  his  time  did  so  much  to  advance 
education  in  Missouri)  was  in  later  years  ever  busy  giving  pleasure  and 
instruction  with  his  pen ;  but  the  grass  now  grows  over  his  resting  place. 
Only  a  year  before  he  was  taken  from  us,  a  distant  correspondent  having 
inquired  what  manner  of  man  he  was,  whose  writings  were  so  pleasant 
and  profitable,  the  reply  was  given  by  me  in  verse,  not  unpleasing  to  my 
valued  friend  : 

THE  PROFESSOR  . 

My  friend,  the  Professor,  a  worthy  good  fellow, 
Like  an  over-ripe  apple,  is  somewhat  too  mellow  ; 
Yet  still  he  gets  round  rather  lively  'mongst  men, 
For  one  counting  up  nearly  three -score  and  ten. 

Only  give  him  a  pencil,  and  spread  a  blank  page, 
You'll  get  vigor  of  youth  with  the  wisdom  of  age; 
And  Addison,  Goldsmith,  or  Irving,  I  think, 
Never  let  better  English  flow  out  with  their  ink. 


6  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

This  genial  old  stager,  with  heart  undenled — 
No  statesman  e'er  wiser,  and  simpler  no  child- 
Looks  over  all  nature,  all  science,  all  art, 
And  tastefully  culls  for  our  use  the  best  part. 

Though  ever  deserving  of  Fortune's  good  will, 
He's  left  in  old  age  with  a  pocket  to  fill ; 
And  his  days  that  ought  rightly  to  pass  without  toil, 
Are  given  to  labor  "  to  make  the  pot  boil." 

Still,  onward  he  plods,  bearing  gaily  his  load, 
That  does  not  get  lighter,  though  down  hill  the  road; 
And  as  friend  or  as  neighbor  for  all  has  a  smile — 
The  true-hearted  man  in  a  world  full  of  guile. 

From  about  eleven  to  thirteen  years  of  age  I  attended  the  town  academy, 
"  footing  it  "  three  miles  from  the  farm.  The  academy,  with  its  belfry  cov 
ered  with  bright  tin,  was  regarded  as  the  shining  light  of  the  region,  and 
pupils  came  even  from  adjoining  counties.  The  principal  and  his  wife  were 
the  faculty,  and  the  advanced  scholars  acted  as  monitors ;  so  it  was  a  kind 
of  self-propelling  normal  school,  as  the  State  did  not  tax  the  people  to  edu 
cate  any  one  for  a  profession,  whether  fitted  for  it  by  nature  or  not. 

Like  hundreds  of  others,  I  look  back  and  see  that  I  must  have  been  an 
idle  student,  and  wasted  my  time.  I  could  learn  rapidly  enough,  but  could 
as  readily  forget ;  and  though  the  higher  branches  were  taught  in  the  acad 
emy,  even  Latin,  Greek  and  mathematics,  yet  I  never  got  beyond  geography 
and  grammar.  I  was  pretty  well  acquainted  with  Lindley  Murray,  and  got 
some  idea  of  natural  philosophy  by  hearing  the  class  recite,,  but  the  recita 
tions  in  history  were  a  bore.  As  to  spelling,  I  was  usually  at  the  head  of 
the  class,  seeming  to  have  a  natural  gift  for  spelling,  which,  like  my  gift  for 
reading  aloud,  may  have  been  hereditary,  as  my  father  was  in  his  younger 
days  a  printer. 

It  is  the  happy  belief  of  the  present  day  that  the  means  of  education  are 
beyond  all  precedent ;  but  as  far  back  as  I  can  remember  there  were  abun 
dant  means  for  all  who  had  the  gift  and  determination  to  learn  ;  and  I 
might  have  been  an  accomplished  scholar  if  I  had  been  blessed  with  talents, 
industry  and  perseverance  to  improve  my  opportunities.  I  think,  too,  they 
must  have  had  good  schools  where  Goldsmith,  Addison,  Pope,  et  al.,  were 
taught.  My  parents  wished  me  to  continue  at  school,  but  I  chose  rather  to 
quit  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  and  work  on  the  farm.  But,  though  schooling 
had  stopped,  my  education  still  went  on,  an'd  after  the  age  of  fifty-three 
years  the  learning  of  the  farm  came  into  practical  and  beneficial  use,  in  such 
manner  as  to  justify  the  supposition  that  a  special  providence  may  have  led 
me  to  quit  the  academy.  A  very  useful  episode  of  an  unpretentious  career, 
affecting  large  interests,  could  not  have  occurred  if  I  had  kept  on  at  school, 
instead  of  working  on  the  farm.  I  will  tell  of  this  in  due  time,  and  show 
how  it  was  that  events  of  much  importance  might  have  never  taken  place, 
if  I  had  staid  at  school  as  my  parents  wished.  "  Kismet "  says  the  Mussel- 
man,  meaning  DESTINY. 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 


CHAPTER  II. 

AN  OLD  TOWN  —  THE  OLD  JUNIATA  TRAIL  —  THE  NEW  TURNPIKE  —  BELL 
TEAMS  AND  INTER-STATE  COMMERCE  —  GREATEST  MEN  OF  EARTH  —  AN 
OLD  TAVERN  AND  COOKERY  —  COUNT  RUMFORD  —  SCIENCE  IN  STOVE 
OVENS  — LEARNED  DISQUISITION  ON  GROG  — PANTALETS  ON  PIANO 
LEGS  —  A  PLAIN  ST.  LOUIS  MECHANIC. 

My  native  place,  Lewistown,  having  over  4,000  people  now,  is  in  the 
charming  valley  of  the  Juniata,  in  the  centre  of  the  great  State  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  Although  not  a  "  City,"  but  an  old-fashioned  "  Borough,"  with  its 
"Burgesses,"  and  without  any  City  Counselor  or  Marshal,  or  a  big  tax 
fund,  it  is  yet  more  than  a  Centenarian,  however  deficient  in  the  modern 
improvements  of  municipal  management.  The  first  house  was  built  in 
1755;  the  county  organization  dates  from  1789.  It  is  a  brisk  town  for 
honest  business,  but  so  slow  in  some  respects  that  they  have  never  had 
any  defaulting  treasurers,  and  I  think  the  county  has  not  had  a  trial  for 
murder  in  sixty  years,  nor  any  robbery  worth  naming  in  all  that  time. 

Penn's  purchase  notwithstanding,  they  used  to  have  Indian  troubles  in 
that  region,  and  thrilling  narratives  of  the  perils  and  sufferings  met  and 
endured  by  the  pioneers  might  have  been  written,  if  pen  and  paper  had  not 
been  rather  scarce.  Tales  of  brave  adventure  and  of  savage  deeds  were  told 
round  firesides  three  score  years  ago,  by  the  ancient  people  to  whom  the 
arrow,  tomahawk  and  scalping  knife  had  been  realities. 

From  a  very  remote  day  a  trail  for  pack-horses  from  Philadelphia  to 
Pittsburgh,  along  the  Juniata  and  over  the  Alleghenies,  had  been  used  in 
carrying  supplies  to  the  people  west  of  the  mountains  ;  and  many  a  bar  of 
iron,  bent  to  rest  on  the  pack-saddle,  was  taken  over  to  the  waters  of  the 
Ohio,  and  perhaps  even  reached  St.  Louis,  then  an  innocent  village,  with 
unlocked  doors,  and  fiddles  played  without  notes.  Early  in  the  century  the 
trail  was  changed  to  a  wagon  road. 

When  I  was  old  enough  to  run  with  a  little  kite,  my  bare  feet  were  hurt 
on  the  sharp  stones  of  the  new  "  turnpike"  through  the  town.  On  this 
road  teams  of  six  horses,  often  with  bells  on  their  hames,  drew  large  cov 
ered  wagons,  laden  with  merchandise  for  the  "backwoods,"  which  meant 
western  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  parts  beyond; — a  rather  indefinite  term 
for  a  region  then  more  distant,  in  the  time  required  to  reach  it,  than  Old 


8  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

Mexico  is  now.  The  wagons  had  but  little  return  freight,  but  what  they 
had,  if  the  drivers  replied  truly  to  inquiring  boys,  was  mostly  "  ginseng  and 
feathers."  Ginseng,  a  plant  with  a  small  taper  root,  and  a  taste  resembling 
that  of  liquorice,  was  gathered  in  western  Pennsylvania,  and  I  believe  ex 
ported  to  China.  My  friend  Mr.  Murtfeldt  tells  me  that  the  dry  ginseng 
root  is  worth  its  weight  in  gold  ;  but  this  must  be  the  price  in  China,  or  it 
would  have  been  dug  up  for  currency  in  the  flush  times  when  gold  was  180 
above  paper  par.  Fisk  would  have  sold  "  short,"  and  settled  with  ginseng, 
making  a  fair  profit  on  the  tinware  traded  for  it.  The  drivers  were  proba 
bly  quizzing  the  boys,  and  must  have  had  furs  and  peltries  in  their  wagons, 
to  make  even  a  moderate  load  for  teams  of  Conestoga  horses,  then  common 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  build,  weight  and  power  fully  equal  to  the  Norman 
stock  imported  of  late  years.  Our  old  inter-state  commerce  needed  no 
regulation  by  any  Mr.  Reagan  in  Congress,  or  by  any  state  board  of  com 
missioners,  but  was  very  much  facilitated  by  our  new  turnpike  road, 
notable  as  the  first  highway  of  the  kind  in  that  part  of  Pennsylvania. 

A  very  dim  recollection  floats  through  my  brain  of  a  two-horse  vehicle, 
which  must  have  carried  mails  and  passengers,  before  the  turnpike  road 
was  made ;  but  after  that  great  highway,  as  it  was  then  considered,  came 
into  use,  four-horse  coaches  appeared,  and  their  drivers,  in  the  estimation  of 
the  boys,  were  the  greatest  men  of  earth,  with  their  lofty  seats  and  their 
long  whip-lashes.  I  pity  the  modern  boys,  who  never  see  men  as  great  as 
our  old  stage  drivers.  To  children  of  a  larger  growth,  the  stage,  its  driver, 
and  passengers,  were  objects  of  interest,  as  shown  by  the  gatherings  at  the 
tavern  door  to  greet  their  arrival. 

But  do  you  know,  My  Dear  Lady,  how  they  cooked  at  the  old  tavern  ? 
Not  in  a  "  Charter  Oak,"  or  a  "  Superior,"  or  a  "  Brilliant,"  or  in  any  thing 
else  like  a  modern  cooking  stove.  None  such  were  then  in  existence. 
Count  Rumford  originated  the  cooking  stove  in  1795,  but  it  had  not  reached 
our  secluded  valley.  The  cooking  of  our  tavern  was  done  at  a  liberal  wood 
fire,  in  the  ample  kitchen  hearth,  with  pot,  and  skillet,  and  frying  pan,  and 
dutch-oven,  and  \vaffle-irons,  and  griddle,  together  with  the  "  tin  kitchen  " 
for  roasting  the  beef,  or  turkey,  or  saddle  of  venison.  Such  roast  turkey  as 
you  never  saw,  my  young  friend,  and  cannot  have,  from  the  oven  of  a  com 
mon  cooking  stove  or  a  hotel  range.  The  tin  kitchen  was  a  half-cylinder, 
placed  horizontally  before  the  fire,  with  an  iron  rod  to  impale  the  turkey. 
Sometimes  a  turkey  would  be  hung  up  by  a  string  before  the  fire  to  roast, 
when  on  court  days  two  turkeys  were  needed  for  dinner.  Bread  and  pies 
were  baked  in  a  brick  oven,  like  the  old-fashioned  ovens  used  by  public- 
bakers.  The  only  stoves  then  in  use  among  our  people  were  the  "  ten- 
plate"  and  the  "Franklin;"  the  latter  set  into  the  fire-place,  and  both 
used  only  for  heating.  The  stoves,  as  also  the  pots  and  other  like  things, 
were  all  cast  at  the  iron-smelting  furnaces;  no  foundries  having  then  been 
established  in  the  interior.  The  chauges  during  sixty  years  in  household 
and  kitchen  arrangements  are  great,  but  as  a  rule  the  cooking  has  not 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY    FEARS.  9 

improved.  On  this  point,  Prof.  John  H.  Tice,  the  philosopher  of  Chelten 
ham,  suspends  his  meteorological  studies,  or  his  regulation  of  the  weather, 
long  enough  to  write  : 

"Those  whose  remembrance  runs  back  half  a  century,  when  cooking 
stoves  began  to  come  into  use,  will  recall  the  fact  that  their  sainted  moth 
ers,  while  lavish  in  praises  of  the  handiness,  convenience  and  general  per 
formance  of  the  innovation,  uniformly  made  one  objection  to  it,  namely, 
that  in  baking  and  roasting  it  did  not  come  up  to  the  old  standard.  All 
persons  who  have  passed  the  meridian  of  life  recall  with  zest  the  fine  and 
delicious  flavor  of  the  tender  beef,  pork,  lamb,  turkey,  etc.,  roasted  before 
the  open  fire,  and  hence  their  own  experience  can  bear  testimony  to  the 
reality  of  the  maternal  objection." 

Prof.  Tice  then  tells  us  that  Mr.  Giles  F.  Filley,  of  St.  Louis,  has  lately 
made  a  scientific  discovery,  and  applies  it  to  cooking  stoves  with  most  grati 
fying  results,  both  as  to  saving  of  fuel  and  cooking  and  baking.  As  Mr. 
Filley  has  been  making  stoves  for  about  a  third  of  a  century,  anything  to 
which  he  gives  sanction  ought  to  be  reliable,  and  hence  I  note  his  discov 
ery.  He  had  observed  that  the  iron  door  closing  the  feed  hole  of  his  cupola 
became  very  hot  and  soon  burned  out.  This  was  costly,  and  he  conceived 
the  idea  of  using  a  wire  screen  to  protect  the  workmen  from  the  heat.  The 
screen  arrested  the  heat,  but  to  his  surprise  did  not  itself  become  heated,  as 
the  iron  door  did.  Here  was  something  new,  but  was  mainly  valued  as 
saving  expense  in  renewals  of  the  door.  Some  time  after  the  use  of  the 
screen  began,  several  of  the  rival  stove-makers  having  vaunted  the  merits 
of  their  oven  doors,  fitting  very  closely,  and  even  made  double,  with  non 
conducting  material  between  the  plates,  Mr.  Filley  began  to  insist  that 
instead  of  greater  heat  in  the  stove  oven,  some  means  of  modifying  the 
temperature  was  required ;  and  he  decided  to  try  the  effect  of  wire  gauze 
doors  on  a  Charter  Oak  oven.  The  experiment  indicated  that  by  using  the 
gauze,  baking  and  cooking  could  be  done  with  less  wood  or  coal.  But  the 
most  striking  result  is,  that  the  gauze  doors  to  the  oven,  Mr.  Filley  saysr 
enable  our  womankind  to  bake  and  roast  with  all  the  old  time  perfection. 
Granting  this,  I  can  hardly  master  the  reasons  why  the  stove  does  better 
work ;  but  if  forced  to  give  an  explanation  I  would  say :  1st,  That  in  212 
degrees  of  Fahrenheit's  thermometer  —  the  limit  to  which  water  can  be 
heated,  unless  confined,  as  in  a  steam  boiler  —  nature  has  apparently 
given  us  a  measure  of  the  heat  required  in  cooking  our  food,  as  we  see  in 
the  boiling  process  ;  2d,  That  if  in  baking  or  roasting  we  go  beyond  this 
measure,  as  in  a  stove  oven  with  close  iron  doors,  we  may  have  a  tempera 
ture  not  only  unnecessary  but  injurious;  3d,  That  the  gauze  doors,  which 
modify  the  heat  in  the  oven  of  the  stove,  keep  it  at  about  the  measure  of 
heat  received  by  the  turkey  in  the  old  tin  kitchen ;  and,  4th,  That  with 
the  close  iron  doors  the  heat  in  the  oven  may  rise  much  beyond  212  degrees, 
even  to  400  or  600  degrees,  and  by  hardening  the  outside  of  the  turkey  or 
loaf  may  interfere  with  the  proper  roastiug  or  baking.  Such  would  be  iny 


10  NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEAKS. 

theory,  and  if  the  facts  do  not  agree  with  it,  some  one  of  the  learned  scien 
tists  may  provide  a  better. 

I  am  not,  however,  so  certain  of  my  theory  in  regard  to  the  effects  of  the 
gauze  doors  of  the  cooking-stove,  as  I  was  in  Cincinnati  during  the  Com 
mercial  Convention  of  1870,  in  regard  to  "  sour  mash/'  To  help  along 
a  resolution  in  the  interest  of  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railway,  I  indulged  in 
courtesies  to  some  of  the  delegates,  and  observing  two  or  three  of  the  gentle 
men  about  to  take  what  are  called  "  ponies,"  I  remarked  that  nature,  in  the 
fermented  juice  of  the  grape,  seemed  to  have  kindly  indicated  the  propor 
tion  of  alcohol  which  it  was  safe  to  have  in  any  liquid  going  into  the  stom 
ach,  and  that il straight"  potations  were  likely  to  be  injurious. 

"  You  observe,  gentlemen,  that  this  sour  mash  contains  probably  50  per 
cent,  of  alcohol.  Now,  I  dilute  it  with  water  ti  11  the  proportion  of  alcohol 
in  the  glass  is  only  about  15  per  cent.,  and  therefore  " 

I  was  talking  learnedly,  and  as  my  guests  were  politely  attentive  —  even 
holding  their  ponies  in  check  —  I  might  have  elucidated  further  but  for  the 
pursy  old  Teuton  behind  the  bar,  who  broke  in 

"Dot  ish  goot — haw,  haw! — dot  ish  goot  now;  but  you  dinks,  Doctor, 
maybe  Jnot  put  water  enough  in  dem  wiskeys  ?' ' 

A  question  so  pertinent  from  a  Cincinnati  vender  of  anything  capable  of 
adulteration  would  spoil  any  discourse ;  but  my  theory  is  sound.  As  a 
beverage,  whiskey  and  water  — or  "grog,"  as  it  used  to  be  called,  after  old 
Admiral  Grogram  of  the  British  navy— is  safer  than  plain  whiskey;  but  if 
anyone  says  that  water  is  better  than  either,  I  will  not  gainsay  him.  Less 
than  sixty  years  ago  the  laborers  on  public  works  were  regularly  served 
with  "jiggers"  of  whiskey  several  times  a  day ;  but  we  are  past  all  that. 
We  now  know  that  alcohol  is  not  essential  to  labor.  Not  a  drop  of  distilled 
liquors,  or  even  beer,  was  permitted  by  Col.  James  Andrews  at  the  South 
Pass  Jetties  during  the  four  years  of  their  construction.  Here  is  a  better 
temperance  lecture  than  Gough  could  deliver,  so  far  as  the  necessity  of  stim- 
lants  is  concerned. 

The  Commercial  Convention  at  Cincinnati  was  held  only  thirteen  years 
ago.  Col.  Caleb  G.  Forshey,  representing  Texas,  had  resolutions  to  pass  in 
favor  of  "  translatitudinal,"  or  north  and  south,  railroads.  My  resolutions 
were  in  favor  of  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  on  the  32d  or  35th  parallel  of  lati 
tude.  Caleb  and  myself  were  regarded  by  many  in  the  Convention  as  harm 
less  enthusiasts,  but  they  kindly  let  our  resolutions  pass.  Look  on  a  map 
now,  and  see  how  far  our  "visionary"  projects  are  already  outrun  by 
realities ! 

If  Count  Rumford  (born  plain  Benjamin  Thompson  at  Woburn,  Massa 
chusetts,  in  1753,  and  Counted  in  Bavaria  for  eminent  public  services)  could 
visit  St.  Louis  now,  it  would  do  his  old  eyes  good  to  see  the  perfection  to 
which  the  cooking-stove,  which  he  was  the  first  to  suggest  and  contrive,  has 
been  brought.  The  emulation  of  makers  is  constantly  originating  what  are 
alleged  to  be  improvements  in  the  stove  itself  as  well  as  in  the  utensils  used 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEAltS.  11 

upon  it.  Bridge,  Beach  &  Co.  with  their  "Superior,"  and  Buck  &  Co.  with 
their  "  Brilliant,"  will  claim  to  equal  if  not  surpass  even  the  Excelsior  Com 
pany's  "  Charter  Oak,"  while  other  makers  will  kindly  advise  you  to  avoid 
all  three  and  take  theirs. 

But  one  thing  puzzles  me.  With  all  our  improvements  in  cooking-stoves, 
ranges,  and  other  domestic  machinery,  My  Dear  Young  Lady,  you  seem  less 
fond  of  the  kitchen  than  your  grandmother,  whom  I  remember  as  a  girl 
fully  your  equal  in  beauty,  and  possibly  your  superior  in  useful  education. 
She  did  not  disdain  the  knowledge  that  enabled  her  to  make  your  grand 
father's  home  a  model  for  its  victuals,  virtue,  and  happiness.  As  a  little  boy, 
I  used  to  think  it  nice  to  see  her  in  the  kitchen,  helping  your  great-grand 
mother,  and  not  turning  in  scorn  even  from  the  skillet  or  griddle.  On  wash 
days  I  have  seen  her  actually  dipping  her  pretty  hands  in  the  suds,  and  it 
is  no  secret  that  she  was  always  particular  to  iron  her  own  things.  The 
other  little  boys  saw  her,  too,  and  we  often  said  to  each  other  that  when  we 
got  to  be  big  men,  we  would  get  girls  for  wives  knowing  as  much  as  she. 
I  wish  a  book  had  been  printed  about  your  grandmother,  and  about  her 
mother  too,  as  it  might  be  of  use  to  some  girls  now-a-days,  who  know  so 
much  about  everything  but  the  essentials  of  a  comfortable  home.  It  is 
funny,  too,  to  think  of,  that  your  grandmother,  who  could  cook  a  good  din 
ner  at  the  old  fireplace,  if  necessary ,  had  the  only  piano  in  town,  except  Mrs. 
Lawyer  Anderson's  (whose  hair  was  so  red),  and  was  the  first  I  ever  heard 
playing  on  that  instrument.  Very  different  it  was,  with  its  spindle-legs, 
from  the  pianos  we  have  now  ;  but  when  the  time  came  that  folks  in  our 
town  (fifty  years  ago)  spoke  only  of  the  "limbs"  of  the  chicken  on  the  table, 
and  it  was  indecorous  to  say  u  legs,"  the  two  pianos  were  dressed  in  panta 
lets,  as  a  proper  concession  to  the  delicacy  of  the  age. 

The  late  sage  of  the  St.  Louis  bar,  John  F.  Darby,  in  his  book  of  reminis 
cences,  said  of  Giles  F.  Filley,  that  he  is  a  man  "whose  conduct  would  enti 
tle  him  to  honor  and  respect  in  any  age  or  any  country."  I  concur.  Mr. 
Filley's  life  is  a  lesson.  Born  in  Bloomfield,  Connecticut,  in  1815,  he  came 
to  St.  Louis  in  1834,  and  became  apprentice  to  his  brother,  Oliver  D.,  to  learn 
the  tinsmith  trade;  the  sterling  O.  D.  Filley,  hater  of  shams,  and  whether 
in  the  Mayor's  seat,  or  in  the  "shop  "  from  which  it  was  so  hard  to  tempt 
him,  valued  most  by  those  who  best  knew  him.  Serving  out  his  time,  Giles 
was  taken  into  partnership  by  O.  D.,  and  was  afterwards,  for  a  few  years, 
engaged  in  the  crockery  business.  But  it  was  his  destiny  to  be  a  manufac 
turer  rather  than  a  trader,  and,  having  sold  his  crockery  interest,  he  started 
the  stove-making  establishment  which  has  since  become  the  extensive 
works  of  the  Excelsior  Manufacturing  Company  of  St.  Louis;  whose  pro 
duct  since  its  organization  has  been  over  a  million  stoves, — of  which  over 
four  hundred  thousand  have  been  the  cooking- stove  named  "Charter 
Oak."  (I  never  knew  what  Longfellow  meant  in  his  poem,  nor  why  any 
concern  should  be  called  "Excelsior,"  merely  because  a  fellow  with  a 
flag  went  up  a  mountain  and  perished ;  doing  no  good  to  anybody,  un- 


12  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

less  a  foolhardy  climb  is  a  pattern  to  be  imitated  instead  of  an  example 
to  deter.) 

With  a  clear  head  and  indomitable  will,  and  ever  liberal  and  just  to 
all  in  his  service,  Mr.  Filley  has  managed  his  affairs  in  his  own  way,  and 
has  been  successful.  I  suppose  he  has  enough  and  to  spare;  but  he  is 
entitled  to  indulge  in  reflections  of  a  higher  order  than  those  arising  from 
even  a  splendid  business  career  and  the  gaining  of  a  competence.  The 
tale  is  brief,  but  I  think  it  can  be  told  of  no  other  business  man,  past  or 
present. 

A  friend,  whose  paper  Mr.  Filley  had  endorsed,  was  unfortunate.  The 
amount  involved  was  over  a  million  dollars.  Mr.  Filley  might  have  com 
promised  for  a  percentage  on  the  dollar ;  he  might  have  given  up  all  his 
estate  to  the  creditors ;  or  he  might  have  hidden  a  part,  given  up  the  rest, 
and  gone  free.  But  he  did  neither.  With  daring  and  stubborn  integrity, 
and  with  courage  and  fortitude,  beside  which  all  heroism  on  the  battle 
field  is  dwarfed  to  insignificance,  he  said  in  substance  to  the  creditors : 
"  I  can  only  pay  part  now,  but  give  me  time  and  I  will  pay  the  last  dollar 
of  the  claim.7' 

He  did  pay.  The  amount,  principal,  interest  and  charges,  footed  up  over 
thirteen  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Comment  can  add  no  strength  to  the  tale ;  but  my  book  will  live  through 
the  ages  to  perpetuate  this  record  of  Giles  Franklin  Filley,  unexampled,  I 
believe,  in  the  annals  of  business  men.  Long  years  hence,  I  trust  the  youth 
who  reads  this  chapter  may  feel  inspired  to  emulate  the  integrity  of  Mr. 
Filley,  if  he  cannot  equal  his  illustrious  achievement ;  and  the  remotest 
descendant  of  this  plain  St.  Louis  mechanic  may  refer  with  pride  to  his 
ancestor. 

Whether  the  wire-gauze  is  better  to  modify  the  heat  than  valves  in  the 
stove  doors,  is  a  question  of  science  and  art  for  the  philosophers — and 
cooks.  I  am  dubious.  Since  1845,  we  have  used  the  Bridge  make  of  stoves 
—  our  first  a  "ten-plate,"  with  holes  in  the  top  for  tea-kettle  and  pots; 
and,  curiously  enough,  as  the  stoves  have  improved,  we  have  at  times  had 
more  trouble  to  get  the  raw  materials  than  to  have  them  converted  into 
eatable  victuals.  I  am  therefore  only  amused  by  the  rivalry  of  the  stove- 
makers,  who  seem  to  have  got  up  to  the  last  notch  of  improvement ; 
while  the  kitchen  folks  have  so  far  fallen  oft  that  "cooking  schools"  are 
thought  necessary.  In  the  unenlightened  old  times  (before  Carlisle  and 
Emerson  were  famous, )  every  home  had  a  good  cooking  school  in  its  kitchen  ; 
bu  there  is  now  danger  that  the  "lost  arts  "  will  soon  include  that  of  pre 
paring  food  for  the  table.  The  St.  Louis  stove-maker  who  shall  provide  a 
cast-iron  cook,  zinc-lined  and  copper-fastened,  (so  as  to  assure  electrical 
action,  supposed  to  be  the  essence  of  life,)  will  have  an  immortal  Whit- 
tington  cat,  and  will  enjoy  the  death-bed  of  the  rich. 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  13 


CHAPTER  III. 

MINE  HOST  AND  HIS  MATE —OLD-TIME  TREATMENT  OF  GUESTS  — TOMATOES 
COME  IN  —  CIVIL,  ENGINEERS  —  THE  CANAL  —  FIRST  MOUNTAIN  RAIL 
ROAD  IN  THE  WORLD  —  THE  PACKET  AND  ITS  CAPTAIN  —  PULLMAN  A 
PLAGIARIST  —  A  SUPERB  ORATION  TO  MR.  CLAY  —  THE  FIRST  PRIEST 
—  THE  CLOCK  PEDDLER  — HOW  ROCKS  WERE  BLASTED —QUEER  DES 
TINY  OF  A  TRUE  MAN  —  FIREWORKS  —  OLD-TIME  MINING. 

The  tavern  to  which  onr  stages  drew  up  so  proudly  was  no  "  hail- 
fellow- well-met "  hostelry,  where  you  could  venture  on  any  indecorum. 
Mr.  Patton  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  as  the  phrase  runs,  with 
manners  matching  in  grace  and  stateliness  the  sterling  worth  of  his  charac 
ter.  The  hostess  was  a  mate  worthy  of  her  lord.  If  their  son  Benjamin, 
the  learned  judge,  yet  survives  in  Ohio  —  as  I  trust  he  does,  hale  and  hearty 
as  when  we  met  in  Washington  six  years  ago  —  let  him  tell  his  grandchil 
dren  that  if  they  can  equal  the  virtues  of  their  great-grand-parents  they 
need  do  no  better.  The  ladies  in  Baltimore,  grand-daughters  of  the  digni 
fied  host,  mated  as  they  are  with  the  proudest  lineage  of  Maryland,  need 
never  blush  for  their  own.  But  can  we  any  more  take  our  ease  in  our  inn? 
Midst  the  hurry  and  rush  I  often  look  back  to  the  old  tavern,  so  grand  in 
my  childhood,  and  envy  the  guests  who  had  the  chance  of  improving  in 
manners  by  those  of  their  host.  The  old  building  yet  stands,  but  never 
more  will  a  landlord,  with  the  air  and  dignity  of  a  Chatham,  hand  out  the 
leather  slippers  and  place  the  boot-jack ;  and  nevermore  will  Uncle  Billy 
Tazwell,  itinerant  barber,  come  around  with  his  pot  of  water,  and  his  soap 
and  razors  and  scissors,  to  display  his  skill  on  the  sojourners.  The  modes 
and  the  manners  are  as  obsolete  as  knee-breeches. 

The  old  customs  faded  away  as  tomatoes  came  into  use.  Cultivated  for 
ornament  as  "love  apples," — so  called  for  some  unknown  reason,  as  they 
did  not  influence  love  in  any  way  and  were  not  needed  for  that  in  our  valley 
—  they  were  at  length  discovered  to  be  edible  ;  but,  like  oysters,  we  had  to 
learn  to  eat  them  ;  and  oh  how  the  tale  would  go  round  among  the  folks, 
that  other  folks  had  tried  them !  They  were  the  town  talk,  as  were  the 
first  oysters,  brought  up  in  the  shell  from  Philadelphia,  by  Major  Peacock, 
favored  by  the  stage  drivers,  with  whom  he  was  not  close  at  nipping  time. 
But  the  tomatoes  made  their  way  and  got  on  all  tables.  Soon  the  school- 


14  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY   YEARS. 

master  no  longer  punished  a  refractory  pupil  by  making  him  eat  a  raw 
tomato.  Soon  the  bow-and-arrow  boys  110  longer  enforced  the  same  penalty 
on  the  urchin  who  missed  the  target.  And  by  the  time  tomatoes  had  fairly 
established  themselves,  other  innovations  came,  and  the  sweet  seclusion  in 
which  the  people  had  been  so  happy  was  lost  forever. 

The  civil  engineers  came  up  the  Jtmiata  Valley,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the 
whole  outside  world  was  about  to  break  in  on  us.  I  was  nine  years  old,  and 
with  other  boys  wanted  to  have  a  look  at  them.  We  had  heard  Indians 
talked  of  from  infancy,  and  expected  to  see  the  "Ingineers"  in  scant 
raiment,  and  with  tomahawks  and  scalping  knives.  We  organized  an  ex 
ploring  expedition  to  Jack's  Creek,  a  mile  and  more  away,  and  found  some 
gentlemen  in  caps  and  short  coats,  with  high  boots  outside  their  trousers, 
and  also  tents,  and  brass  mysteries  on  three  legs.  Novel  enough,  but  not 
as  we  had  imagined,  and  boyhood's  fancy  was  exploded.  Forty-nine  years 
later,  in  1875,  speaking  of  this  first  sight  of  civil  engineers,  in  a  circle  of  the 
profession  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  in  New  York,  met  as  an  Advisory 
Board  on  the  Jetties,  one  gentleman  spoke  up  —  "  I  was  in  that  party,  as  a 
rodman."  It  was  the  first  service  in  the  field  of  William  Milnor  Roberts. 

They  were  surveying  for  the  "canawl."  Our  exports,  mainly  "wheat 
and  whiskey,"  had  been  sent  to  market  in  arks  and  keelboats,  floated  down 
the  Jimiata  into  the  Susquehanna,  and  thence  to  tide  water.  The  arks 
were  rude  structures,  similar  to  the  flatboats  of  the  Ohio,  but  sharp  at  both 
ends,  and  were  never  brought  back.  The  keelboats  returned,  pushed  up 
stream  by  poles,  against  the  ends  of  which  the  boatmen  placed  their  shoul 
ders,  and  then  by  walking  from  stem  to  stern,  literally  propelled  the  boat 
by  the  use  of  their  legs.  Some  of  the  first  models  of  steamboats  exhibited 
at  Philadelphia  (in  the  days  of  Fitch  and  Bumsey,  before  Fulton  was 
heard  of),  had  pushing  sticks  at  their  sides  similar  to  the  old  Juniata  keel- 
boats.  Fulton  did  not  invent  the  steamboat.  He  put  into  practical  use  the 
ideas  of  others.  Give  him  his  due,  but  let  us  not  forget  Fitch,  Rumsey, 
Evans,  and  other  "  visionaries."  Even  the  Spaniard  at  Barcelona,  so  long 
before  them  all,  should  not  be  forgotten. 

The  cargoes  brought  up  the  Juniata  comprised  groceries,  hardware,  gen 
eral  merchandise,  and  gypsum— the  latter  for  use  as  a  fertilizer  on  corn  and 
clover.  To  push  a  boat  up  our  little  river  with  poles  was  transportation 
under  difficulties,  but  bore  no  comparison  in  toil  and  hardship  with  the  up 
stream  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  in  early  days.  Laclede 
and  Chouteau,  .Lewis  and  Clark,  Campbell,  Ashley,  Sublette,  and  their 
associates,  were  heroes  of  energy  and  perseverance,  and  seem  to  have  been 
special  creations,  intended  or  predestined  for  the  rugged  work  they  did. 

The  advent  of  the  engineers  was  a  great  event  in  our  town  and  valley, 
but  belief  in  the  "  canawl  "  was  by  no  means  universal.  "  It  will  break  up 
the  bell-teams,  and  ruin  the  taverns ;  "  and  upon  the  whole  it  was  rather  to 
be  regarded  as  an  invention  of  the  evil  one.  This  feeling  did  not  wear  away 
till  expenditures  on  the  work  put  more  money  afloat  than  had  ever  been 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  15 

known  before;  and  then  prejudice  yielded  to  interest.  Money  is  a  capital 
teacher,  and  nobody  was  ruined  after  all. 

Pennsylvania,  with  a  population  of  only  1,049,458  in  1820  and  only  reach 
ing  to  1,348,233  in  1830,  had  entered  on  a  scheme  of  public  works  which 
ultimately  cost  about  forty  millions  of  dollars,  and  many  tax-payers  were 
seriously  alarmed.  But  the  debt  is  now,  I  believe,  pretty  well  wiped  out, 
and  the  benefits  of  the  bold  policy  remain.  The  little  episode,  more  than 
forty  years  ago,  of  default  for  a  time  in  the  payment  of  interest — a  lapse 
which  elicited  the  caustic  letters  of  Rev.  Sidney  Smith — is  now  forgotten. 
At  this  day,  the  states  need  not  run  in  debt  for  public  works.  Corpora 
tions  build  them  for  us,  and  we  escape  the  taxes  for  construction,  but  are 
happily  left  free  to  growl  at  the  manner  in  which  they  are  operated,— 
while  our  transportation  charges  are  less  for  the  service  rendered  than 
those  of  any  other  people  on  earth. 

It  was  In  its  day  a  great  work,  that  canal  up  the  Juniata,  and  when  one 
looks  back  to  it,  the  profession  of  civil  engineering  is  seen  to  have  achieved 
triumphs.  There  were  great  engineers  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago, — as  fully 
equal  to  the  problems  then  to  be  solved  as  our  great  engineers  are  to  the 
problems  to  be  solved  now.  The  viaduct  at  the  Relay  House  on  the  Balti 
more  &  Ohio  Railroad,  built  fifty  years  ago,  is  for  symmetry  and  strength 
unsurpassed  by  any  modern  work  in  stone,  and  is  a  noble  monument  to 
Benjamin  H.  Latrobe,  the  engineer.  At  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  there  is 
a  wooden  bridge  built  by  Theodore  Burr  in  1812,  which  has  been  in  use  for 
wagons  and  foot  passengers  ever  since,  and  whose  wooden  arches  may  be 
studied  by  engineers  now  with  advantage.  A  stone  bridge  of  two  arches 
over  the  creek  at  my  native  town,  is  older  than  I  am,  and  will  last  longer. 

But  our  canal,  which  began  on  the  Susquehanna,  could  not  be  made 
continuous  to  Pittsburgh.  The  Alleghenies  intervened,  and  from  Holli- 
daysburg  on  the  east  flank  of  the  mountains  to  Johnstown  on  the  west,  the 
Portage  Railroad  of  thirty-six  miles  was  built ;  the  pioneer  mountain  road 
of  the  world  on  any  line  of  travel.  The  rise  from  its  east  end  to  the  summit 
was  over  1300  feet,  and  over  1100  feet  from  its  west  end.  To  surmount  this 
elevation  it  had  inclined  planes,  from  lower  to  higher  levels,  and  up  and 
down  these  the  cars  were  moved  by  stationary  engines  and  long  cables. 
Some  years  after  the  road  came  into  use,  loaded  canal  boats  were  taken  up 
on  cars  and  carried  from  one  side  of  the  mountain  to  the  other,  as  Mr.  Eads 
will  take  up  loaded  ships  and  carry  them  by  rail  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

The  Tehuantepec  Ship  Railroad  will  be  a  parody  on  our  old  Allegheny 
Portage  road,  but  a  parody  much  grander  in  its  composition  than  the  origi 
nal  piece.  The  building  of  it  is  only  a  question  of  genius  and  money.  The 
world  does  not  question  the  genius  of  Mr.  Eads,  and  I  have  faith  that  he 
will  get  the  money ;  and  when  the  road  is  completed,  the  world  will  wonder 
at  its  simplicity  and  ease  of  operation.  It  will  also  wonder  at  the  stupidity 
of  a  Congress  that  could  not  understand  or  appreciate  a  work  so  grand,  so 


16  NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

desirable,  and  so  distinctly  American.  With  money  enough  provided,  I 
have  no  doubt  Mr.  Eads  could  build  a  bridge  across  the  British  Channel,  if 
John  Bull  would  let  him;  but  John's  dread  of  "French  invasion"  is  so 
great  that  he  is  afraid  of  the  tunnel  under  the  sea,  and  the  proposal  of  a 
bridge  would  be  a  red  flag  in  the  arena.  "  It  wouldn't  do,  you  know." 

I  have  noted  the  advent  of  the  stages  and  their  drivers  when  our  turn 
pike  road  came  into  use;  but  what  is  human  glory  after  all?  The  canal 
came,  with  packet  boats  for  passengers,  and  where  was  the  glory  of  the 
stage  driver  then  ? 

"  Gone,  like  the  snowflake  in  the  silver  fountain, 
Or  as  the  daylight  fades  o'er  vale  and  mountain." 

For  the  boat  captain  outshone  any  driver  that  had  ever  held  rein,  or 
sounded  his  brass  horn  as  he  swept  proudly  round  on  a  high  trot  to  the 
tavern  door.  The  stages  still  ran,  and  carried  mails,  for  boats  could  not  run 
in  winter  ; — but  the  charm  had  gone  out  of  the  driver.  No  more  the  expect 
ant  gatherings  at  the  tavern  portal ;  they  were  down  at  the  canal,  to  greet 
the  packet.  And  when  the  boat  came  gliding  into  the  lock,  and  her  cap 
tain,  fearless  on  her  bloodless  deck,  gave  the  sonorous  order — "  Snub  her  !  " 
what  was  Wellington  at  Waterloo  to  him  ! 

And  in  sooth  not  to  be  despised  were  those  canal  packets : — kitchen  at 
the  stern — table  from  end  to  end  of  the  cabin — three  square  meals — and  at 
night  a  double  tier  of  shelves  on  each  side  for  beds  : — what  was  all  this  but 
comfort  and  luxury,  if  not  grandeur,  even  less  than  forty  years  ago  ?  Eat 
ing,  sleeping,  and  the  journey  still  going  on !  What  are  the  dining  cars 
and  the  sleeping  cars  of  that  ubiquitous  George  M.  Pullman,  but  a  bold 
faced  plagiarism  after  all  ?  And  George  M.  never  owns  to  it,  that  he  has 
copied  the  old  packets.  True,  his  cars  are  elegant  and  sumptuous,  and  roll 
along  faster  than  the  serene  packets ;  but  you  can't  go  on  deck  to  sit  on 
the  trunks,  sing  in  the  moonlight,  or  duck  your  head  at  the  cry  of  "low 
bridge ! "  Nor  can  you  have  some  youthful  Garfield,  incipient  President, 
driving  your  locomotive,  as  you  might  have  had  driving  the  team  on  the 
towpath.  Nor  can  you  enjoy,  and  study,  and  analyze  the  scenery  from  car 
windows,  at  forty  miles  an  hour,  as  you  could  from  the  quietly  gliding 
packets. 

And  then  our  rival  packet  lines,  the  "  Pioneer  "  and  the  "  Good  Intent ;  " 
— what  ardent  emulation,  with  three  horses  to  each  boat,  tandem  on  the 
towpath  !  Noble  ambition  to  excel !  And  when  Henry  Clay  came  along 
on  his  way  to  Washington,  what  a  chance  for  the  village  orator  to  speak  at 
him,  and  all  of  us  to  hear  him  in  response,  '  as  we  sailed '  from  one  set  of 
locks  to  another  !  No  hurried  hand-shake  on  a  platform,  or  speech  from  the 
tail  of  a  car  (with  the  engine  bell  petulant)  can  reach  the  sublime  in  trip  or 
atory.  Only  the  calm  interior  of  the  canal  packet  or  the  steamboat  cabin 
can  assure  us  this.  And  oh,  the  generous  pride  we  felt,  when  our  own 
orator,  Lawyer  Fisher  (who  had  written  the  "Life  of  Charles  Ball,  a  Black 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  17 

Man,"  110 1  inferior  in  many  points  to  even  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin) — made  the 
best  speech  on  the  whole  line,  though  I  can  only  recall  one  sentence  ad 
dressed  to  Mr.  Clay  :  "  Sir,  your  fame  is  as  broad  and  as  deathless  as  the 
winds  of  heaven  ! "  Mr.  Fisher  closed  with  this  comprehensive  sentence. 
Altogether  it  was  a  superb  piece  of  oratory,  and  Mr.  Clay  looked  as  if  he 
had  never  heard  the  like  before. 

The  packet  along  the  Juniata  is  gone  forever.  The  old  canal  itself,  once 
the  pride  of  a  commonwealth,  was,  when  I  last  saw  Unreduced  to  the  base 
uses  of  a  few  sluggish  freight  boats,  and  is  possibly  now  abandoned.  The 
State  sold  it  to  a  soulless  corporation.  But  peace  to  thy  ashes,  Captain 
Jacob  Libhart !  In  thy  day  thou  wert  an  exemplar.  Easy  it  is  to  be  royal  on 
a  throne ;  but  to  be  royal  on  a  packet  boat ;  to  sit  a  prince  at  head  of  table  : 
to  tread  the  deck,  every  inch  a  king !  Such  wert  thou,  oh  Jacob,  Captain  of 
the  Daisy  Diller!  Can  ever  Pullman  conductor  equal  thee?  Compared 
with  the  cabin  or  deck  of  a  packet,  what  is  the  aisle  of  a  car? 

The  work  of  making  the  canal  brought  to  the  quiet  town  and  valley  an 
irruption  of  "outside  barbarians" — engineers,  contractors,  laborers,  and 
others.  The  most  distinctive  character  and  greatest  curiosity  was  the  Cath 
olic  Priest.  There  were  so  many  "navvies,"  that  the  coming  of  the  Priest 
was  an  advantage  to  the  community  as  well  as  to  the  people  under  his  care. 
He  was  a  blessing  all  round.  But  a  Catholic  Priest  was  a  new  thing,  and 
when  he  appeared  in  the  streets,  mild  and  humble  as  he  seemed,  he  was 
gazed  at  by  all  as  a  curiosity,  and  by  some,  perhaps,  as  a  sort  of  monster. 
Many  of  our  people  had  never  seen  a  Priest,  and  could  not  easily  under 
stand  that  he  might  possibly  be  on  the  road  to  salvation  as  well  as  them 
selves.  The  Priest  was  perhaps  a  bigot,  but  those  who  looked  askance  at 
him  were  his  peers  in  bigotry.  For  there  used  to  be  bigots,  long  ago,  when 
people  were  earnest  in  their  faith.  But  Father  Mullaly  quietly  did  his 
work,  and  got  up  his  little  chapel,  with  the  cross  on  its  peak.  It  is  there 
yet ;  and  if  the  Priest  or  his  chapel  ever  wrought  harm,  I  have  not  heard 
of  it. 

Religious  toleration  had  not  been  the  strong  point  of  our  home  people. 
Intensely  in  earnest,  as  a  quiet  and  thoughtful  people  are  apt  to  be,  they 
held  godliness  to  be  the  one  thing  needful ;  but  they  did  not  always  realize 
that  others,  not  of  their  line  of  faith,  might  have  and  enjoy  it,  and  might, 
by  the  grace  of  the  Most  High,  even  be  of  the  "elect."  A  more  liberal 
spirit  is  abroad  now,  but  holiness  has  not  gained.  The  Priest  is  no  longer 
a  curiosity  or  a  dragon.  But  sincerity  and  earnestness  in  religious  matters 
do  not  seem  to  increase  as  intolerance  dies  out. 

Another  new  character  was  the  Yankee  clock  peddler.  I  am  not  sure 
but  it  may  have  been  Sam  Slick  himself,  Judge  Haliburton's  friend,  who 
drove  up  to  the  farm  gate,  asked  to  stay  the  night,  and  after  supper  showed 
us  a  gaily  painted  wooden  clock — one  he  "  didn't  care  to  sell,"  as  he  wanted 
it  for  a  sample ;  but  he  could  go  back  to  the  warehouse  and  get  another,  if 
need  be.  We  had  an  eight-day  clock  in  a  tall  oaken  case,  that  had  been  in 


18  .  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

the  family  for  unknown  years,  having,  I  think,  come  over  the  sea  in  1745  ; — 
but  something  was  wrong  with  it,  and  standing  still  as  it  did  (Father  neg 
lecting  to  have  it  repaired),  its  hands  only  pointed  to  the  right  time  twice 
in  twenty-four  hours,  and  then  not  reliably.  Mr.  Slick  opened  the  case  and 
looked  in,  but  shook  his  head.  He  might  try  to  repair  the  clock,  he  said,  as 
it  had  no  doubt  been  a  first-rate  goer  in  its  day,  but  in  fact  he  only  under 
stood  wooden  clocks,  and  if  one  of  these  did  not  work  just  right  he  could 
easily  whittle  a  wheel  or  two  into  shape.  But  he  was  "skeery"  about 
meddling  with  the  brass  wheels,  and  "  didn't  calculate  to  get  the  hang  on 
'em,  and  might  make  it  wuss,  or  suthin  V  Then  he  opened  the  new  clock, 
and  showed  the  family  all  the  little  wooden  wheels,  greatly  to  the  edifica 
tion  of  the  children  ;  and  finally  thought  he  could  leave  it  till  he  came  round 
again,  when  if  we  "act'lly  wanted  it,"  he  would  let  it  stay  for  twenty-five 
dollars.  Of  course  the  clock  remained,  and  kept  the  time  as  well  as  it  could. 
But  I  am  not  unhappy  in  the  reflection  that  the  Priest  is  a  fixture  in  my 
native  town,  and  that  the  peddler  of  wooden  clocks  at  twenty-five  dollars 
each  is  gone  forever. 

We  had  a  mark  on  the  porch,  and  when  the  shadow  of  a  particular  post 
reached  it,  we  knew  it  meant  noon  ;  and  it  was  neighborhood  opinion  that  if 
our  old  clock  had  been  sufficiently  repaired  to  keep  full  time  in  cloudy 
weather,  we  might  have  got  along  without  paying  out  so  much  money  for  a 
new  one,  and  setting  an  example  of  extravagance  to  the  rural  folks  about 
us.  For  the  "Squire,"  as  Father  was  called,  having  bought  a  Yankee 
clock,  every  farmer  in  the  township  must  have  one,  and  everybody  won 
dered  how  they  had  got  along  all  their  lives  without  the  "time  o'  day." 
Fortunately  the  sun  still  gave  us  the  shadow  of  the  post  to  regulate  the 
new  clock  by. 

The  "  red  rock  section  "  of  the  canal,  near  our  farm,  required  a  great  deal 
of  blasting.  Holes  were  drilled  by  hand,  coarse  blasting  powder  was  poured 
in,  a  copper  rod  was  inserted,  and  clay  "  tamped  "  in  till  the  hole  was  filled. 
The  copper  rod  was  then  drawn  out,  and  fine  powder  poured  in  for  priming. 
The  slow-match  was  a  strip  of  brown  paper — the  traditional  brown  paper  of 
which  the  "parcels  "  in  the  old  English  novels  was  made,  and  which  wras 
used  for  wrappers  in  stores  before  the  days  of  bags.  The  strip  had  been 
soaked  in  a  solution  of  saltpetre.  When  adjusted  to  the  priming,  the  work 
man  would  touch  a  coal  of  fire  to  one  end  of  it — and  get  out  of  the  way. 

No  safety-fuse  then ;  no  steam  or  atmospheric  drills ;  110  nitre-glycerine, 
giant  powder,  dynamite,  "lithofracteur," — or  other  villainous  compounds. 
The  large-hearted  Sylvester  H.  Laflin,  philanthropy  incarnate,  (busy  as  the 
bee,  but  diffusing  sweets  as  he  gathers  them),  had  not  yet  appeared.  Queer 
destiny,  that  one  whose  goodness  lights  with  steady  beam  the  business 
circles  of  St.  Louis,  and  whose  personal  record  is  a  continuous  glow  of  excel 
lence, — a  magazine  of  virtues, — should  head  the  list  of  dealers  in  things  that 
only  do  their  service  by  a  flash  and  explosion,  leaving  wrecks  behind,  or 
seeding  death  ahead. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  19 

But  all  Laflin's  fuses  and  powders,  all  Judy's  fireworks,  can  never  equal 
to  me  the  long  line  of  blasts  put  off  at  the  red-rock  section  of  our  old  canal 
the  night  before  Christmas  (the  workingmen's  welcome  to  the  day),  more 
than  fifty  years  ago;  when  all  the  farm  boys  declared,  in  Pennsyl-vania 
vernacular,  that  it  was  "  better  nor  a  circus,"  which  was  saying  a  great 
deal.  Yet  our  old-time  mode  of  drilling  and  blasting  was  slow,  compared 
with  modern  work.  We  were  only  one  step  advanced  from  the  mining 
process,  when  fire  was  built  against  the  rock  to  make  it  break  out  easily — 
or,  as  a  high-tony  writer  in  a  magazine  would  say,  in  Johnsonian  phrase, 
facilitate  its  fracture. 

Christmas  day,  1854,  was  (sinfully)  spent  in  writing  the  prospectus  of  a 
copper  mining  company ;  the  profits  to  be  counted  by  the  figure  1,  and  cy 
phers  at  will ;  but  we  could  soon  count  without  the  figure  1,  using  only  the 
cyphers.  In  that  prospectus  (Whitney's  '  Metallic  Wreath  of  the  United 
States,'  for  authority)  I  said : 

"  The  Eselschacht,  at  Kuttemburg,  in  Bohemia,  a  mine  now  abandoned, 
reached  the  depth  of  3,778  feet.  At  Rorerbuhel,  there  were,  in  tne  sixteenth 
century,  excavations  to  the  depth  ©f  3,107  feet,  and  the  plans  of  the  works 
are  yet  preserved.  These  excavations  appear  the  more  wonderful,  as  they 
were  made  before  the  introduction  of  gunpowder." 

Since  1854,  the  workings  of  the  Comstock  lode,  in  Nevada,  have  gone  to 
depths  exceeding  3,000  feet ;  but  the  old  Kuttemburg  mine,  if  truly  re 
ported,  is  still  the  deepest  mine  in  the  world ;  its  depth  being  only  about 
200  feet  less  than  the  height  of  Vesuvius.  Comparing  this  depth  with  the 
height  of  the  loftiest  structures  ever  erected  by  man,  the  Pyramid  of  Cheops 
and  the  Strasburg  Cathedral— the  proportions  are  found  to  be  about  eight 
to  one.  (The  Tower  of  Babel  may  have  been  higher  than  the  Pyramid  and 
the  Cathedral,  but  we  have  no  measurements.)  The  Artesian  bore  at  the 
St.  Louis  Insane  Asylum  (4,380  feet)  is  the  deepest  hole  in  the  ground  ever 
made,  and,  like  the  Tower  in  the  plain  of  Shinar,  and  the  Washington 
Monument,  it  is  not  yet  finished.  If  the  globe  is  a  hollow  sphere,  as  held 
by  John  Cleve  Symmes — with  an  entrance  to  the  interior  at  each  pole — and 
if,  in  the  interior,  there  is  a  lake  of  "fire  and  brimstone,"  where,  as  Burns 
has  it,  "  they'll  roast  ye  like  a  herring,"— we  can  brag  on  the  old  County 
Court  of  St.  Louis,  which  got  nearer  to  it  than  anybody  else  since  Koran's 
time. 


20  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

RAILROADS  LONG  AGO  —  STEAM  CARRIAGES — DE  CAUS,  CUGNOT,  SAVABY, 
WATT,  SYMINGTON,  EVANS,  TREVETHICK,  AND  OTHERS— FRANCE  LEADS 
WITH  A  STEAM  CARRIAGE — MURDOCH'S  MODEL.  SCARES  THE  DOMINIE 
—  A  TOLL-TAKER  FRIGHTENED  —  WATERS  AND  STEPHENSON — FIRST 
LOCOMOTIVE  IN  AMERICA  —  ALL  ABOUT  RAILROADS — NAPOLEON'S  IM 
MORTAL  BOMBAST— EGYPTIAN  POEM. 

I  have  been  writing  of  times  sixty,  fifty,  forty  years  ago.  Yet  what 
changes !  The  great  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  exemplar  for  the  world,  with 
its  two,  three,  or  four  tracks,  and  more  rails  iii  many  parts  of  it  than  Eads 
will  have  in  his  great  Ship  Railway  ;  with  its  utmost  perfection  of  equip 
ments,  except  as  lacking  useless  ornament — and  its  army  of  operatives,  dis 
ciplined  to  more  than  military  exactness — now  bears  through  the  Juniata 
valley  and  over  the  Alleghanies  a  commerce  of  people  and  things  infinitely 
beyond  any  estimate  that  any  sane  man  could  have  conceived  sixty  years 
ago.  The  population  of  the  United  States  is  about  five  times  what  it  was 
then,  but  the  domestic  commerce  of  the  country  has  augmented  in  a  ratio 
much  greater,  and  the  census,  as  I  will  show  in  a  future  chapter,  does  not 
now  measure  the  forces  of  the  people  as  it  once  did. 

In  those  childhood  days,  when  the  pack-horse  and  his  trail  were  not  yet 
forgotten  by  the  elders,  and  the  heavy  wains  rolled  westward  to  the  inspir 
ing  music  of  the  bell-teams,  few  of  our  people  knew  anything  of  railroads  or 
locomotives,  and  nearly  all  were  slow  of  belief  in  them,  or  at  least  they  never 
expected  to  see  them.  As  a  highway  to  penetrate  all  regions,  to  stretch 
across  continents,  to  carry  things  almost  as  cheaply  as  they  could  float,  and 
to  whirl  people  along  by  day  and  by  night  cheaper  than  they  could  walk, 
and  on  the  average  as  safely  —  and  to  make  fortunes  for  the  directors  and 
managers — the  Railroad,  even  amongst  the  most  enlightened,  was  not  even 
dreamed  of. 

Yet  railways  were  very  old  things,  the  first  line  of  wooden  rails  for  coal 
wagons  from  the  mines  to  the  water-side  having  been  laid  by  "Master  Beau 
mont,"  near  Newcastle,  England,  in  1630.  Roger  North  describes  these 
roads  and  rolling-stock  in  1676 :  "  Rails  of  timber  from  the  colliery  down  to 
the  river  exactly  straight  and  parallel,  and  carts  made  with  four  rowlets  fit- 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  21 

ting  these  rails,  whereby  the  carriage  is  so  easy  that  one  horse  will  draw 
fo-ur  or  five  chaldrons  of  coals."  A  century  later,  Arthur  Young  writes  : 
"  The  coal-wagon  roads  from  the  pits  to  the  water  are  great  works,  carried 
over  all  sorts  of  irregularities  of  ground  so  far  as  the  distance  of  nine  or  ten 
miles."  At  the  time  of  the  Scotch  rebellion  in  1745,  a  railway  existed  from 
Tranent  coal  pits  to  the  harbor  of  Cockenzie,  "  and  a  portion  of  the  line  had 
the  honor  of  being  selected  as  a  position  for  Gen.  Cope's  command  at  the  bat 
tle  of  Prestonpans."  Some  of  my  forefathers  may  have  been  unwise  enough 
to  be  in  that  battle — on  the  weaker  side — and  so  had  to  run  over  to  Ireland. 

These  wooden  tracks  were  the  germ  of  our  modern  railway ;  although  the 
people  of  Egypt  and  Baalbec  may  have  had  similar  ways  on  which  to  move 
the  great  stones  of  pyramids  and  temples.  The  first  iron  rails  (cast-iron 
plates)  are  supposed  to  have  been  laid  down  in  England  as  early  as  1738.  In 
1776,  John  Curr  laid  a  cast-iron  railway  near  Sheffield,  but  the  miners  got 
up  a  riot  and  destroyed  it,  and  Mr.  Curr  had  to  hide  in  the  woods  three  days 
to  escape  their  fury !  Benjamim  Outrain  laid  rails  in  1800,  and  hence  our 
term  "  tram-roads,"  called  after  the  tail-part  of  Benjamin's  family  name. 

Solomon  de  Cans,  who  was  shut  up  in  the  Bicetre  of  Paris  for  his  supposed 
madness,  is  believed  to  have  been  the  first  to  conceive  the  idea  of  employing 
steam  for  moving  carriages  on  laud  as  well  as  ships  at  sea.  No  record  is 
more  sad  than  that  of  de  Cans.  Marian  de  Lorme,  in  a  latter  dated  Paris, 
1641,  describes  a  visit  paid  to  this  celebrated  mad-house  in.  company  with 
the  English  Marquis  of  Worcester.  "A  frightful  face  appeared  behind  some 
immense  bars,  and  a  hoarse  voice  exclaimed,  '  I  am  not  mad !  I  am  not  mad ! 
I  have  made  a  discovery  that  would  enrich  the  country  that  adopted  it.' 
'What  has  he  discovered?'  asked  our  guide.  'Oh,'  replied  the  keeper, 
'  something  trifling  enough ;  you  would  never  guess  it ;  it  is  the  use  of  the 
steam  of  boiling  water.  This  man  is  named  Solomon  de  Caus ;  he  came  from 
Normandy,  four  years  ago,  to  present  to  the  king  a  statement  of  the  wonder 
ful  effects  that  might  be  produced  from  his  invention.  To  listen  to  him  you 
would  imagine  that  with  steam  you  could  navigate  ships,  move  carriages — 
in  fact,  there  is  no  end  to  the  miracles  which  he  insists  could  be  performed. 
The  Cardinal  sent  the  madman  away  without  listening  to  him.  Solomon  de 
Caus,  far  from  being  discouraged,  followed  the  Cardinal  wherever  he  went, 
who,  tired  of  finding  him  forever  in  his  path,  and  annoyed  at  his  folly,  shut 
him  up  in  the  Bicetre.  He  has  even  written  a  book  about  it.'  "  The  Mar 
quis  of  Worcester  studied  the  book,  and  portions  of  it  are  embodied  in  his 
"  Century  of  Inventions." 

Savary,  Watt,  Symington,  and  other  Englishmen,  in  the  last  century, 
entertained  the  idea  of  steam-carriages,  but  did  not  reduce  it  to  practice. 
The  first  model  of  a  steam-carriage  of  which  there  is  any  account,  was  con 
structed  in  France  by  a  Frenchman  named  Cugnot,  in  1763.  He  afterwards 
built  an  engine  on  the  same  plan  ;  but  when  set  in  motion  it  projected  itself 
onward  with  such  force  that  it  knocked  down  a  stone  wall,  and,  its  power 
being  considered  too  great  for  ordinary  use,  it  was  stowed  away  in  the  Arse- 


22  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEAKS. 

nal  Museum  at  Paris.  Oliver  Evans,  the  American  inventor,  in  1772  invented 
a  steam-carriage  *to  travel  on  common  roads,  but  for  lack  of  funds  was  not 
able  to  put  it  into  operation. 

The  first  English  model  of  a  steam-carriage  was  made  in  1784  by  William 
Murdoch.  It  was  on  the  high-pressure  principle,  and  ran  on  three  wheels. 
It  was  very  diminutive,  standing  little  more  than  a  foot  high,  and  the  boiler 
was  heated  by  a  spirit  lamp.  One  night  Murdoch  determined  to  try  the 
working  of  his  model  locomotive,  and  for  this  purpose  chose  the  walk  lead-, 
ing  to  the  church  about  a  mile  from  the  town.  The  walk  was  narrow  and 
bounded  by  hedges  on  either  side.  It  was  a  dark  night,  and  Murdoch  set  out 
alone  to  try  his  experiment.  Having  lit  his  lamp,  the  water  began  to  boil, 
and  off  started  the  engine  with  the  inventor  after  it.  He  soon  heard  distant 
shouts  of  despair,  and,  on  following  up  the  machine,  found  that  the  cries 
for  assistance  proceeded  from  the  worthy  pastor  of  the  parish,  who,  going 
towards  the  town,  was  met  on  this  lonely  road  by  the  hissing  and  fiery 
little  monster,  which  he  subsequently  declared  he  had  taken  to  be  the  Evil 
One  in  proper  person.  No  steps  were  taken  by  Murdoch  to  embody  his  idea 
of  a  locomotive  carriage  in  a  more  practical  form. 

In  1802  Richard  Trevethick  and  Andrew  Vivian,  of  Cornwall,  took  out  a 
patent  for  "methods  of  improving  the  construction  of  steam-engines,  and 
the  application  thereof  for  driving  carriages,  and  for  other  purposes."  They 
built  a  steam-carriage,  and  it  is  said  that  "this  was  the  first  successful  high- 
pressure  engine  constructed  on  the  principle  of  moving  a  piston  by  the  elas 
ticity  of  steam  against  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere";  but  this  only  applies 
to  England.  Oliver  Evans,  at  Philadelphia,  had  previously  built  and  oper 
ated  a  high-pressure  engine.  The  steam-carriage  of  Trevethick  and  Vivian, 
the  first  ever  constructed  for  actual  use  on  common  roads,  was,  on  the  whole, 
tolerably  successful,  and  the  makers  determined  to  exhibit  it  in  London. 
Coleridge  relates  that  "while  the  vehicle  was  proceeding  along  the  road  at 
the  top  of  its  speed,  Vivian  descried  ahead  of  them  a  closed  toll-gate,  and 
called  out  to  Trevethick,  who  was  behind,  to  slacken  speed ;  but  the  mo 
mentum  was  so  great  that  the  carriage  proceeded  some  distance,  coming 
dead  up,  however,  just  on  the  right  side  of  the  gate,  which  was  opened  like 
lightning  by  the  toll-keeper.  'What  have  us  got  to  pay  here?'  asked  Vivian. 
The  poor  tollman,  trembling  in  every  limb  and  his  teeth  chattering,  essayed 

a  reply :  '  Na-na-na-na' l  What  have  us  got  to  pay,  I  say  ?'     '  No-noth- 

nothing  to  pay !  Dear  Mr.  Devil,  do  drive  on  as  fast  as  you  can  !— nothing 
to  pay !'  "  The  carriage  was  exhibited  in  London,  but  never  came  into  use 
ful  service. 

In  1804  Trevethick  constructed  a  locomotive  for  use  on  railroads,  and  it 
succeeded  in  dragging  after  it  several  wagons  at  the  rate  of  five  miles  an 
hour,  but  it  proved  a  practical  failure.  To  get  rid  of  the  waste  steam  it  was 
discharged  into  the  smokestack  through  a  pipe  at  right-angles.  "Trevethick 
was  here  hovering  on  the  verge  of  a  great  discovery,"  but  he  was  not  aware 
of  the  action  of  the  waste  steam  in  contributing  to  increase  the  draft,  as  in 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  23 

1815  he  patented  fanners  to  urge  the  fire.  Yet  his  locomotive,  "although 
unfitted  for  actual  work,  was  a  highly  meritorious  production,  and  its  inven 
tion  may  be  said  to  constitute  an  important  link  in  the  mechanism  of  the 
steam-engine." 

In  Trevethick's  day  an  imaginary  difficulty  tended  to  retard  the  adoption 
of  the  locomotive.  This  was  the  supposition  that  the  "  bite"  of  the  smooth 
wheels  on  the  rail  would  not  be  sufficient  to  enable  the  engine  to  draw  a 
heavy  load ;  and  his  engine  had  projections  or  knobs  on  the  wheels,  which 
of  course  caused  great  jolting  of  the  machine.  In  1811  Mr.  Blenkinsop,  of 
Leeds,  took  out  a  patent  for  a  racked  or  toothed  rail,  laid  along  one  side  of 
the  road,  into  which  a  toothed  wheel  of  his  engine  worked.  Engines  on  this 
plan  began  running  on  the  railway  from  the  coal  mines  to  Leeds,  three  and 
a  half  miles,  in  1812,  and  continued  for  some  years  to  be  one  of  the  principal 
curiosities  of  the  neighborhood.  This  was  the  first  instance  of  the  regular 
employment  of  locomotive  power  for  commercial  purposes. 

In  1812  a  locomotive,  made  by  Chapman,  was  tried  near  Newcastle,  to 
drag  itself  along  by  a  chain  stretched  from  one  end  of  the  road  to  the  other, 
and  passed  once  around  a  grooved  barrel-wheel  under  the  engine.  It  was  soon 
abandoned.  Another  remarkable  expedient  was  adopted  by  Mr.  Brunton, 
in  Derbyshire,  who,  in  1813,  patented  his  "Mechanical  Traveler,"  to  go  upon 
legs,  working  alternately  like  those  of  a  horse !  These,  and  other  similar 
contrivances,  projected  about  the  same  time,  show  that  invention  was  ac 
tively  at  work,  and  that  many  minds  were  laboring  to  solve  the  important 
problem  of  locomotive  traction  upon  railways. 

In  3813,  at  the  Wylam  colliery,  owned  by  Mr.  Blacket,  experiments 
were  made  to  test  the  adhesion  of  smooth  wheels  on  smooth  rails.  Wm.  T. 
Waters,  of  Toronto,  Ontario,  states  in  a  late  publication*  that  his  grand 
father,  Thomas  Waters,  "late  of  Gateshead-on-Tyne,"  is  entitled  "to  the 
honor  of  the  construction  of  the  first  traction  locomotive."  It  was  built 
mostly  "at  his  works  at  Gateshead,  with  the  assistance  of  his  son,  Thomas 
Waters,  Jr.,  and  a  man  named  Hudspeth,  who  were  the  only  three  men  that 
ever  touched  the  machine  or  engine."  This  engine,  Mr.  Waters  says,  "was 
made  to  the  order  of  Wm.  Hedley,  viewer  of  Wylam  colliery,  who,  with  my 
grandfather's  assistance,  invented  traction."  "  It  is  eight  miles  to  Wylam 
colliery  from  Gateshead,  and  my  uncle,  then  a  lad  of  18,  made  a  trolley  with 
a  crank  [the  first  handcar?]  on  which  he  and  Hudspeth  used  to  go  to  New- 
burn  at  night  or  at  the  end  of  the  week,  and  also  to  take  material  and  tools 
to  their  work.  Wm.  Hedley  and  my  grandfather  thought  an  engine  might 
be  made  to  pull  the  wagons  instead  of  horses  (having  seen  the  trolley),  and 
the  trial  of  the  first  traction  engine  began.  To  determine  this  point  [the 
adhesion  of  smooth  wheels]  Hedley  had  a  carriage  constructed,  placed  upon 
the  railroad,  and  loaded  with  iron ;  two,  four,  and  six  loaded  wagons  were 
attached  to  it ;  the  carriage  itself  was  moved  by  men  at  four  handles.  Hed- 

*  See  letter  of  Wm.  T.  Waters  in  "  Railway  Age,"  Chicago,  March  22, 1883. 


24  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEAKS. 

ley  took  notes  of  the  weight  of  carriage  and  iron,  and  of  the  loaded  wagons, 
and  when  the  wheels  revolved  without  drawing  the  wagons.  The  weights 
were  repeatedly  varied,  but  with  the  same  relative  results.  This  experi 
ment,  which  was  on  a  large  scale,  my  uncle,  Thomas  Waters,  had  previously 
tried  on  a  small  scale.  But  tubes  out  of  the  colliery  were  used  before  that, 
on  a  road  of  smaller  gauge,  in  Mr.  Blacket's  grounds,  to  obtain  privacy. 
After  that,  Mr.  Hedley  ordered  my  grandfather.  Thomas  Waters,  to  con 
struct  an  engine.  How  could  Stephenson  be  the  father  of  the  locomotive? 
I  would  not  detract  one  tittle  of  the  celebrity  of  Mr.  Stephenson  in  making 
certain  improvements.  Now,  it  has  often  been  asserted  that  Stephenson 
made  the  first  engine,  and  by  some  others  that  Hedley  made  it,  but  the 
truth  is  this :  Hedley  perfected  traction ;  Thomas  Waters,  Jr.,  invented 
and  made  the  first  trolley  and  crank ;  and  Thomas  Waters  [the  grandfather 
of  William  T.  of  Toronto]  made  the  first  engine,  to  the  order  of  Hedley, 
for  Blacket  to  use  at  Wylam  colliery."  Mr.  Blacket  opened  his  purse  for 
these  experiments  at  Wylam,  as  Lord  Ravensford  did  for  Stephenson  at  Kil- 
lingsworth. 

In  1814  George  Stephenson's  first  locomotive  was  placed  on  the  railway 
of  the  Killingsworth  colliery.  After  a  year's  use,  it  was  found  that  the  cost 
of  hauling  by  horses  and  by  steam  was  about  equal.  Mr.  Stephenson  then 
turned  the  escaping  steam  into  the  chimney  through  a  pipe  curved  upward, 
and  the  power  of  the  engine  was  at  once  more  than  doubled  ;  combustion 
was  stimulated,  the  capacity  of  the  boiler  to  generate  steam  was  greatly  in 
creased,  and  the  effective  power  of  the  engine  augmented  in  the  same  pro 
portion.  This  experiment  gave  life  to  the  locomotive.  It  was  followed  by 
the  multitubular  boiler  and  the  coupled  driving-wheels.  Mr.  Stepheiison's 
engines  continued  for  seven  or  eight  years  at  work  on  the  Killingsworth  coal 
road  without  attracting  any  general  attention  in  England.  Mr.  William  T. 
Waters  claims  that  a  second  locomotive,  built  by  his  grandfather  in  1814, 
had  "  a  return-tube  in  the  boiler,  and  also  had  the  exhaust-pipe  carried  into 
the  chimney  and  upturned  therein."  I  have  never  before  seen  any  denial  of 
Stephenson's  right  to  the  credit  of  this  vital  feature  of  the  locomotive. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  little  was  known  of  railroads  or  locomotives  in  our 
quiet  region  along  the  Juniata  sixty  years  ago.  It  was  only  in  1823  that  the 
act  of  Parliament  for  the  Stockton  &  Darlington  railroad,  in  England,  was 
passed  —  a  road  projected  by  the  quaker,  Edward  Pease,  and  laid  out  by 
George  Stephenson  —  the  first  railroad  in  the  world  for  general  commercial 
purposes,  and  opened  for  traffic  in  1825.  In  that  year  the  civil  engineers 
were  preparing  to  invade  our  Juniata  valley,  and  the  Stockton  &  Darlington 
railway  began  a  revolution  in  the  habits  of  the  human  race  which  is  already 
more  wonderful  than  any  other  on  record. 

The  first  railroads  in  the  United  States  were  built  to  carry  gravel,  stone, 
anthracite  coal,  and  other  heavy  materials.  All  were  short.  One  was  built 
on  Beacon  Hill  in  Boston,  in  1807  ;  one  in  Delaware  county,  Pennsylvania,  in 
1809 ;  and  one  at  Bear  Creek  Furnace,  Armstrong  county,  Pa.,  in  1818.  The 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEABS.  25 

tracks  were  composed  of  wooden  rails.  Other  short  roads,  similarly  con 
structed,  were  built  in  various  places.  Prior  to  1809,  Oliver  Evans,  of  Phila 
delphia,  urged  repeatedly  in  public  addresses  the  construction  of  a  passen 
ger  railroad  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York,  and  in  that  year  attempted  to 
form  a  company  for  this  purpose.  In  1812  Col.  John  Stevens,  of  Hoboken, 
New  Jersey,  published  a  pamphlet  recommending  the  building  of  a  passen 
ger  railroad  from  Albany  to  Lake  Erie,  but  his  suggestions  were  not  heeded. 
In  April,  1823,  the  State  of  New  York  chartered  the  Delaware  &  Hudson 
Canal  Company  to  construct  a  canal  and  railroad  from  the  coal  fields  in 
Pennsylvania  to  the  Hudson  river  at  Rondout ;  the  railroad,  16  miles  long, 
from  Honesdale  to  Carbondale,  to  carry  coal,  was  completed  in  1829.  In 

1826,  the  Quincy  railroad,  in  Massachusetts,  4  miles  long,  was  built  to  haul 
granite  to  the  port  of  Neponset;  the  rails  of  wood,  strapped  with  iron.    In 

1827,  the  Mauch  Chunk  railroad,  9  miles  long,  was  built  in  Pennsylvania  to 
connect  coal  mines  with  the  Lehigh  river ;  the  gauge  was  3  feet  7  inches,  and 
the  wooden  rails  were  faced  with  iron.   In  1826,  the  State  of  New  York  char 
tered  the  Mohawk  &  Hudson  railroad,  for  freight  and  passengers,  from  Al 
bany  to  Scheiiectady,  47  miles ;  work  was  not  begun  till  1830,  and  the  road 
was  opened  for  travel  in  September,  1831. 

On  February  28,  1827,  the  State  of  Maryland  chartered  the  Baltimore  & 
Ohio  railroad.  Work  was  begun  July  4,  1828,  and  in  1829  the  track  was  fin 
ished  6  miles,  and  "cars  were  put  upon  it  for  the  accommodation  of  the  offi 
cers,  and  to  gratify  the  curious  by  a  ride."  This  was  the  first  road  in  the 
United  States  that  was  opened  for  the  conveyance  of  passengers ;  it  was 
finished  to  Ellicot's  Mills,  13  miles,  in  1830.  The  Washington  branch  was 
opened  to  Bladensburg  in  July,  and  to  Washington  in  August,  1834. 

The  Charleston  &  Hamburg  railroac^  in  South  Carolina,  was  chartered  in 
December,  1827.  A  locomotive  was  placed  on  it  in  1830.  The  road  was  com 
pleted  in  September,  1833,  a  distance  of  135  miles ;  at  that  time  it  was  the 
longest  continuous  line  of  railroad  in  the  world.  The  rails  used  on  the 
Charleston  and  on  the  Albany  road  were  of  wood,  with  flat  bar-iron  nailed 
on  them.  The  track  of  th  e  Baltimore  &  Ohio  consisted  of  cedar  cross-pieces 
and  string-pieces  of  yellow  pine  12  to  24  feet  long  and  6  inches  square,  with 
iron  bars  on  them.  The  flanges  of  the  wheels  were  on  the  outside.  After 
some  miles  of  this  kind  of  road  had  been  made,  long  granite  slabs  were  sub 
stituted  for  the  cedar  cross-pieces  and  pine  stringers.  "Iron  strips  were  laid 
for  miles  and  miles  on  stone  curbs."  Before  the  road  had  been  finished  to 
Point  of  Rocks,  in  1832,  "  wrought-iron  rails  of  the  English  mode"  had  been 
laid  on  part  of  the  line. 

About  this  time  various  patterns  of  rolled  iron  rails  were  in  use  in  Eng 
land.  The  first  of  these  was  the  fish-bellied,  invented  and  patented  in  1820, 
and  which  fitted  into  cast  iron  chairs.  The  larger  part  of  the  Stockton  and 
Darlington  road,  thirty-seven  miles  long,  was  laid  with  rolled  rails  of  this 
pattern,  weighing  twenty-eight  pounds  to  the  yard.  On  the  Liverpool  and 
Manchester  road,  "  the  rails  used  wrere  made  of  forged  iron,  in  lengths 


26  NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY   YEARS. 

of  fifteen  feet,  and  weighed  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds  each." 

The  Clarence  rail  was  au  English  improvement ;  it  rested  011  chairs,  but 
did  not  have  the  fish  belly,  its  upper  and  lower  surfaces  being  parallel. 
These  rails  were  used  on  the  Allegheny  Portage  road,  in  Pennsylvania, 
finished  in  1833.  On  a  part  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Columbia  road,  opened 
in  1834,  flat  rails  were  laid  either  on  granite  blocks  or  wooden  string  pieces, 
but  the  larger  part  of  the  track  had  Clarence  rails.  On  the  Boston  and 
Lowell  road,  completed  in  1835,  stone  cross-ties  were  at  first  laid,  some  of 
which  were  in  use  as  late  as  1852.  On  one  track  of  this  road  the  H  rail  was 
laid ;  this  rail  rested  on  chairs,  and  had  a  web  similar  to  that  of  the  T  rail. 

Many  years  elapsed  after  the  first  railroad  was  built  before  any  other 
than  flat  rails  were  made  in  America.  All  the  heavy  rails  were  imported 
from  England.  Up  to  1843  there  were  110  facilities  for  the  manufacture  of 
heavy  iron  rails,  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  4,185  miles  of  American  rail 
road  existing  at  the  beginning  of  1844,  and  of  a  few  hundred  additional 
miles  then  projected.  The  first  heavy  rails  were  rolled  in  1844,  of  the  U 
pattern,  at  the  Mount  Savage  Iron  Works  in  Maryland.  The  first  T  rails 
made  in  America  were  rolled  at  the  Montour  Mill  at  Danville,  Pennsylva 
nia,  in  1845. 

The  T  rail,  now  universally  used  on  American  railroads,  is  generally 
supposed  to  be  of  English  origin ;  but  it  was  invented  by  Robert  L.  Stevens, 
of  Hoboken,  New  Jersey,  in  1830,  and  was  first  laid  on  the  Camden  and 
Ainboy  railroad.  It  did  not  come  into  general  use  until  after  1845.  The 
first  made  of  these  rails  were  only  sixteen  feet  in  length.  The  first  rails 
thirty  feet  in  length  were  made  at  the  Cambria  Iron  Works  at  Johnstown, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1856,  but  there  being  no  demand  for  them  they  were  used 
on  the  tracks  of  that  company  at  tkeir  works.  The  first  thirty  foot  rails 
rolled  on  order,  were  made  at  the  Montour  Works  in  1859.  The  first  sixty 
foot,  or  double  length  rails,  were  rolled  at  the  Edgar  Thompson  steel  works, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1875 ;  and  that  company,  in  1876,  exhibited  a  steel  rail  at 
the  Centennial  Exhibition  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  length,  weighing 
sixty-two  pounds  to  the  yard.  The  rail  mills  in  the  United  States  have 
now  a  capacity  of  three  million  tons  of  iron  and  steel  rails  per  annum. 
More  than  nine  tenths  of  the  rails  rolled  in  1882  were  of  steel. 

The  first  locomotive,  the  "Stourbridge  Lion,"  did  not  touch  American 
soil  till  I  was  twelve  years  old.  At  a  convivial  meeting  in  1855,  Major  Hora 
tio  Allen,  engineer  of  the  Erie  Railroad,  described  in  a  speech  the  first  trip 
made  by  a  locomotive  on  this  continent : 

"  Where  was  it?  And  who  awakened  its  energies  and  directed  its  move 
ments  ?  It  was  in  the  year  1829,  on  the  banks  of  the  Lackawaxen,  at  the 
commencement  of  the  railroad  connecting  the  canal  of  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson  Company  with  their  coal  mines — and  he  who  addresses  you  was  the 
only  person  on  that  locomotive.  The  road  had  been  built  in  the  summer, 
the  structure  was  of  hemlock  timber,  of  large  dimensions,  notched  in  caps 
placed  far  apart.  The  timber  had  cracked  and  warped  from  exposure  to  the 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  27 

sun.  After  about  three  hundred  feet  of  straight  line  the  road  crossed  the 
Lackawaxeii  creek  on  trestle  work  about  thirty  feet  high,  with  a  curve  of 
three  hundred  and  fifty  to  four  hundred  feet  radius.  The  impression  was 
very  general  that  this  iron  monster  would  either  break  down  the  road,  or 
leave  the  track  at  the  curve  and  plunge  into  the  creek.  My  reply  was,  that 
it  was  too  late  to  consider  the  probability  of  such  occurrences  ;  there  was  no 
other  course  but  to  have  a  trial  of  the  strange  animal,  which  had  been 
brought  here  [from  England]  at  great  expense  ;  but  that  it  was  not  neces 
sary  that  more  than  one  should  be  involved  in  its  fate  ;  that  I  would  take 
the  first  ride  alone,  and  the  time  would  come  when  I  should  look  back  to 
the  incident  with  great  interest.  As  I  placed  my  hand  on  the  throttle 
valve,  I  was  undecided  whether  I  would  move  slowly,  or  with  a  fair  degree 
of  speed,  but  believing  that  the  road  would  prove  safe,  and  preferring,  if  we 
did  go  down  to  go  handsomely,  and  without  any  evidence  of  timidity,  I 
started  with  considerable  velocity,  passed  the  curve  over  the  creek  safely, 
and  was  soon  out  of  hearing  of  the  cheers  of  the  vast  assemblage.  At  the 
end  of  two  or  three  miles  I  reversed  the  valve,  and  returned  without  acci- 
dent  to  the  place  of  starting,  having  thus  made  the  first  railroad  trip  by 
"locomotive  in  the  western  hemisphere." 

Pioneer  of  wonders,  good  Major  Allen !  Unconscious  of  the  great  future ; 
for  if  I  had  told  thee,  then,  that  in  fifty- four  years  there  would  be  more 
than  110,000  miles  of  railroad  in  the  United  States,  and  250,000  in  the  world, 
derision  would  have  curled  thy  shaven  lip ! 

As  late  as  1829,  two  distinguished  engineers,  Mr.  Walker  and  Mr.  Ras- 
trick,  solemnly  advised  the  use  of  stationary  engines,  instead  of  locomotives, 
on  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  railroad,  then  nearly  completed ;  but 
Stephenson  insisted  on  the  locomotive,  and  at  a  competitive  trial  in  October, 
1829  (for  a  prize  of  500  pounds),  the  Rocket  ran  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five 
miles  an  hour,  and  settled  the  question.  In  1830  the  road  was  opened  with 
locomotives. 

Peter  Cooper  built  the  first  locomotive  made  in  America,  the  "Torn 
Thumb,"  and  ran  it  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  road  in  August,  1830.  It 
was  a  small  affair,  rather  a  working  model  than  an  engine  for  service,  and 
Mr.  Cooper  was  his  own  engineer.  To  make  a  tubular  boiler  he  used  gun 
barrels.  "The  Best  Friend  of  Charleston,"  the  first  American  locomotive 
for  actual  service,  was  built  at  the  West  Point  foundry  in  New  York  City, 
and  put  to  use  on  the  Charleston  and  Hamburg  railroad  in  South  Caro 
lina,  in  1830. 

The  idea  of  hauling  cars  by  horses  was  not  given  up  for  some  years  after 
the  first  railroads  were  constructed  in  the  United  States.  I  think  horses  or 
mules  were  used  for  a  time  on  the  Pennsylvania  state  road  from  Philadel 
phia  to  Columbia.  On  most  of  the  levels  of  the  Allegheny  Portage  railroad 
the  cars  were  drawn  by  horses.  In  1837,  when  I  first  saw  it,  this  road  had 
but  one  locomotive. 

Another  old  time  idea  was,  that  railroads  should  be  used  like  common 


28  NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY   YEARS. 

roads,  and  every  citizen  be  at  liberty  to  put  on  his  own  cars,  just  as  he  could 
put  his  wagons  on  a  turnpike  road,  and  pay  tolls.  Very  crude  and  absurd 
it  all  seems  now;  but  the  Pennsylvania  state  road,  from  Philadelphia  to 
Columbia,  was  for  a  number  of  years  operated  simply  as  a  highway  for 
vehicles  of  transportation  owned  by  individuals.  The  "Commonwealth1' 
furnished  the  track  and  all  motive  power,  but  the  cars  were  private  prop 
erty,  and  tolls  were  paid  for  the  use  of  the  track  and  hauling  the  cars. 
Langhable  enough,  now,  is  it  not?  But  it  was  a  very  serious  matter  then, 
especially  as  the  "  Superintendent  of  Motive  Power  "  was  a  state  officer,  and 
belonging  of  course  to  the  political  party  in  power,  was  always  chargeid  by 
the  party  not  in  power  with  stealing  all  he  could.  In  course  of  time  the 
cars  came  to  be  owned  by  companies,  and  individual  owners  disappeared ; 
but  I  have  forgotten  at  what  time  the  State  undertook  to  provide  both  cars 
and  engines,  and  to  charge  freights  on  the  goods  instead  of  tolls  for  use  of 
track  and  hauling.  Years  ago  the  road  passed  from  the  ownership  of  the 
State  to  that  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company.  A  prolific  source  of 
partisan  corruption  was  closed  up,  but  the  interest  of  party  contests  fell  off 
sadly.  Patriotism  waned  as  profit  fled. 

As  our  first  railroad  had,  generally,  only  the  "flat  rail"— bars  of  iron 
spiked  on  stringers  of  wood  or  stone — they  were  very  imperfect,  but  were  a 
great  deal  better  than  none ;  and  I  feel  no  shame  to  confess  that  we  were 
very  proud  of  them.  No  great  speed  was  made  or  expected.  Accidents 
were  not  unknown ;  but  there  was  one  peril  which  we  escape  on  the  T  rail. 
Sometimes  the  end  of  a  flat  rail  would  turn  upward,  pierce  the  car  bottom, 
disturb  the  passengers,  and  be  decidedly  unpleasant,  if  it  did  not  destroy 
life  or  limb,  or  throw  the  car  from  the  track.  These  intruding  rail-ends 
were  called  "snakeheads." 

The  cars  first  in  use  were  small  affairs.  The  "burden  cars,"  as  freight 
cars  were  called  forty-five  years  ago,  were  boxes,  a  little  longer  than  their 
width,  and  had  a  wheel  at  each  corner.  Three  or  four  tons  made  a  load  for 
one  of  them.  Cars  and  engines  have  been  in  course  of  improvement  ever 
since  the  first  were  put  on  the  track ;  but  the  locomotive,  with  all  its  varied 
improvements,  and  its  greater  weight  and  power,  is  in  essentials — steam 
blast,  tubular  boiler,  and  connecting  rods — the  same  as  when  George  Steph- 
enson's  Rocket,  in  September,  1830,  ran  thirty  miles  an  hour  011  the  Liver 
pool  and  Manchester  railroad,  astonished  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and 
killed  Mr.  Huskisson. 

There  were  no  telegraphs  for  a  number  of  years  after  railroads  were  in 
use ;  but  the  managers  nevertheless  ran  their  trains,  and  we  got  along.  The 
world  can  do  without  a  great  many  things  it  has  never  enjoyed.  I  do  not 
remember  what  the  speed  was  on  our  railroads  in  early  days,  but  probably 
about  fifteen  miles  an  hour  as  a  maximum  for  passenger  trains.  On  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  branch  to  Washington,  in  1841  and  1842  (when  I  had  not 
yet  risen  above  political  life),  we  sometimes  made  twenty  miles  an.  hour, 
passing  a  mile  post  every  three  minuses  by  the  watch ;  but  I  think  this  was 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  29 

above  the  average,  and  was  a  special  blessing  vouchsafed  to  the  office  seek 
ers,  enabling  the  expectants  to  reach  the  capital  quickly,  and  the  dis 
appointed  to  get  home  before  their  borrowed  money  had  all  run  out. 

The  Telegraph,  tried  and  enjoyed,  in  1844  as  a  curiosity,  between  Wash 
ington  and  Baltimore,  was  opened  for  general  business  April  1,  1845.  But 
I  need  not  here  write  of  the  Telegraph,  or  more  of  our  magnificent  railroad 
system;  for  if  fully  described  this  year,  their  extension  and  expansion 
would  require  a  supplementary  description  next.  When  Napoleon's  Army 
was  marching  past  the  pyramids,  he  said  to  his  soldiers,  in  immortal  bom 
bast,  "  Forty  Centuries  look  down  upon  you!"  I  never  kneMt  what  he 
meant.  I  hardly  think  the  dead  centuries  look  down  on  any  body.  But  let 
them  look  at  our  railroads — if  they  can. 

FORTY  CENTURIES. 

Old  kings  of  Egypt  squandered  life  and  limb 
Their  grand,  mysterious  Pyramids  compiling ; 

The  stately  sepulchre,  the  monarch's  whim, 
The  victor's  trophy— piling. 

But  what  are  those  dead  monumeiits  to-day  ? 

Stupendous  stones,  telling  of  wondrous  labors  t 
Compared  with  them  how  grand  our  iron  way, 

Making  remote  men  neighbors ! 

Sleep  on,  old  king  !  nor  heed  the  vapor  scream, — 

Start  not  from  cold  sarcophagus  in  panic  ; 
Rest,  mummy  monarch  !  ignorant  of  steam, 

And  modern  world's  mechanic. 

Eloquent  your  Pyramids  of  wasted  toil — 

Our  roads  of  progress,  culture  and  facility ; 
Monuments  the  one  of  human  wrong  and  spoil>  • 

The  other  of  utility ! 

No  lofty  Pyramid,  no  Karnac's  fane, 

No  Sphynx,  no  Memnon,  calls  up  emulation ; 
We  rather  turn  to  where  your  flooded  plain 

May  teach  us  irrigation. 

Sleep  on,  old  king!— why  wake  up  now  to  find; 

Your  vaunted  glory  treated  as  prepost'rous? 
GEORGE  STEPHENSON,  in  service  to  mankind, 

We  rank  above  SESOSTEIS  ! 

His  day  is  past,  the  monarch  of  the  Nile- 
Gone  are  his  vassel  kings,  and  tribute  votive  ; 

Yet  was  his  courtier,  with  a  fawning  smile, 
Moved  by  a  ioco-motive  ! 


30  NOTES   TAKEN   IN    SIXTY    YEARS. 


CHAPTER    V. 

I 

PERCUSSION  CAPS — FLINT  LOCKS  —  MY  UNCLE  A  GOOD  SHOT,   BUT  LOST   CASTE 

—  BROTHER  DAVID  SHOOTS  ONCE — A  SERMON  ON  KING  DAVID — COLT  AND 
MAXWELL'S  REVOLVERS — DESTRUCTIVE  MATCHES — PRIMITIVE  IRON  WORKS 

—  PIONEBRS   IN  IRON  WEST  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  —  OLD  FREEDOM  WORKS  — 
LOGAN,  THE  MINGO  CHIEF— PROGRESS  IN  IRON  MAKING  — PER  CAPITA  IN 
POUNDS  AT  SEVERAL  DATES  —  PRESENT    CAPACITY   OF  PRODUCTION  —  MIN 
ERAL  FUEL — PENNSYLVANIANS  AND  THE   CELESTIAL  STREETS — THEY  GIVE 
UP  THE  TARIFF. 

The  picturesque  and  ever  beautiful  valley  of  the  Juniata,  to  be  famous  in 
story  and  song  when  written,  had  no  railroad  for  a  dozen  years  after  I  had 
left  it.  In  my  younger  days  people  could  t)e  amazingly  happy  without  rail 
roads,  or  telegraphs,  or  photographs,  or  sundry  other  things  now  by  use 
made  essential  to  comfort.  They  could  be  happy  with  only  flint-lock  guns. 
•  The  percussion  cap  and  lock  were  invented  about  1822,  but  new  tilings 
•made  their  way  slowly  into  the  interior,  and  I  first  heard  of  the  new  gun- 
lock  in  1826.  My  uncle  told  of  a  percussion  lock  he  had  seen  on  a  gun  in 
Baltimore,  where  he  had  been  to  sell  iron  and  buy  "  store  goods."  He  was 
an  "  Iron-Master,"  and  had  the  Hanover  Works  in  old  Bedford  county,  in 
the  "cove"  below  McConnelsburg,  near  the  Maryland  line — a  serious,  quiet, 
tall  gentleman,  who  could  lean  over  to  the  right,  rest  his  left  elbow  on  his 
ribs,  and,  with  a  long  flint-lock  rifle  balanced  on  his  extended  hand,  take  off 
a  squirrel's  head  at  eighty  yards.  He  was  a  little  proud  of  his  skill,  too ; 
and  when  the  workmen  practiced  at  "  shooting-mark,"  he  would  walk  over 
to  the  ground  about  the  time  they  got  through,  borrow  a  rifle  from  some 
one — and  win  the  turkey,  though  he  never  claimed  it.  Impressed  with  the 
value  of  the  percussion  lock,  he  was  quite  effusive  in  his  description  of  it 
to  the  hands — and  lost  caste  sadly.  They  could  respect  his  general  probity 
and  his  markmanship,  but  not  his  heretical  notions  about  gun-locks,  as  they 
took  no  stock  in  new-fangled  things.  Crack  shots  as  they  all  were  with 
flint-locks,  they  cared  for  nothing  better  than  their  fathers  had,  but  "only 
wished  they  could  have  a  fellow  there  with  one  of  those  new  contrivances"; 
they  would  soon  ll  show  him  how  to  shoot." 

This  notice  of  gun-locks  is  put  here  in  order  that  the  younger  readers 
may  understand  a  phrase  once  used  by  Henry  Clay  when  his  party  had  lost 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  31 

an  election:  "  Pick  your  flints  and  try  it  again!"  The  innocent  youth  of 
the  present  day,  raised  on  percussion  locks,  fixed  ammunition,  and  breech 
loaders,  cannot  understand  the  record  of  our  great  and  glorious  country  if 
they  do  not  know  what  flint-locks  were.  Let  them  think  of  George  Wash 
ington,  of  Daniel  Boone,  of  Andrew  Jackson  and  his  ' 'Hunters  of  Kentucky" 
at  New  Orleans,  and  all  the  flights  of  the  American  eagle  before  percussion 
locks  were  known !  Then  let  them  disparage  our  old  flint-locks  if  they  can. 

The  people  were  fond  of  shooting  in  old  Bedford  county  long  ago,  but, 
while  they  insisted  on  fair  play  in  a  fist  fight,  they  were  yet  so  sadly  lacking 
in  "chivalry"  and  so  low  down  in  civilization  that  they  did  not  shoot  each 
other.  About  1840  my  brother  David,  then  a  law  student  in  Bedford  town, 
wras  sent  toa  remote  township  to  attend  an  "arbitration";  for  in  those  primi 
tive  times  the  parties  in  cases  of  dispute  would  often  agree  to  "  leave  it  out 
to  men."  Of  course  there  was  a  gathering  of  rural  folks,  and  rifle  practice, 
with  the  common  result  of  "  driving  the  nail";  and  after  they  "had  all  taken 
a  shot  and  bragged  a  little  on  their  skill,  David  remarked  that  he  "  didn't 
consider  that  sort  of  thing  shooting  at  all." 

"  Well,  Mr.  Lawyer,  what  do  you  call  shootin'  ?  And  what's  better  nor 
drivin'  the  nail?" 

"I'll  tell  you  what  shooting  is.  Anyone  can  drive  the  nail.  No  judg 
ment  required  for  that.  Hold  steady,  sight  at  the  nail,  pull  trigger,  and 
there  you  are.  But  to  put  the  bullet  so  close  to  the  nail  as  just  to  leave  paper 
enough  to  hold  up  the  mark— that's  shooting." 

And  then  he  was  about  to  mount  his  horse,  when  the  man  who  had  be 
fore  spoken,  and  who  had  just  reloaded  his  gun,  handed  it  to  him  with  the 
request  that  he  would  show  them  "how  to  do  that  sort  of  shootin'."  A  piece 
of  paper  the  size  of  a  dollar  was  tacked  to  a  fence-post  80  yards  distant ;  he 
slowly  raised  the  gun  (intending,  if  he  missed  the  post,  to  say  that  he  could 
only  rely  on  his  own  rifle)  and  blazed  away.  To  the  astonishment  of  all,  and 
most  of  himself,  he  made  the  very  shot  he  had  described,  and  was  famous  at 
once ;  but  as  he  rode  homeward  he  made  up  his  mind  never  again  to  shoot 
in  Blackleg  township.  The  young  lawyer  was  named  David  after  a  plain 
neighbor  of  the  family,  and  not  after  the  sovereign  upon  whom  Rev.  E.  Car 
ter  Hutchinson,  nearly  forty  years  ago,  preached  in  St.  Louis  one  of  his  terse, 
vigorous,  and  instructive  sermons,  taking  for  text  the  phrase,  "David  was  a 
man  after  God's  own  heart."  I  listened  to  that  sermon  with  much  interest, 
as  there  were  passages  in  the  life  of  David  that  had  always  seemed  to  me  a 
little  irregular,  to  say  the  least,  and  I  was  curious  to  know  how  he  would 
treat  them.  The  Rector  of  St.  George's  Church,  who  never  preached  a  dull 
or  stale  sermon,  touched  charmingly  on  the  youth  of  David,  and  his  cele 
brated  duel  with  Goliath,  and  then  traced  his  career  as  he  rose  higher  and 
higher  —  his  conduct  as  a  warrior,  and  as  a  judge  in  Israel  —  giving  him  the 
exalted  character  to  which  he  is  no  doubt  justly  entitled ;  — and  when  I  was 
about  to  conclude  that  the  dark  spots  were  to  be  passed  over  without  even  a 
sweep  of  the  whitewash  brush,  the  Rector  said,  in  his  forcible  and  impres- 


32  NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

sive  way,  "In  the  matter  of  Uriah  the  Hittite,  David  must  stand  on  the 
same  platform  with  other  sinners  !"  Not  another  word  ;  and  there,  oh  sin 
ners,  David  stands  among  you  yet ! 

A  splendid  fellow  he  was,  that  brother  of  mine:  among  the  very  first  to 
mount  the  castle  top  at  Chapultepec,  when  Scott's  army  captured  the  City 
of  Mexico;  but  fated  to  perish  at  last  under  Blunt,  in  1862,  on  the  Kansas 
border.  And  all  the  rest  but  one  are  gone  ;  of  eleven  boys,  only  two  of  us 
left.  Only  two,  and  one  an  old  fogy, — myself;  probably  the  only  man  who 
laments  the  flint-locks,  or  thinks  the  invention  of  the  percussion  lock  has 
had  more  evil  than  good  results.  There  is  said  to  be  in  the  Tower  of  Lon 
don  the  model  of  a  revolving  pistol  two  or  three  hundred  years  old.  It 
came  to  nothing.  The  revolver  could  only  work  with  the  percussion  lock, 
happily  not  then  invented.  But  at  length  it  came  into  use,  and  in  due  se 
quence  came  Colt  (or  rather  Maxwell,  said  to  have  prompted  Colt)  with  the 
murderous  weapon.  But  suppose  there  had  been  no  percussion  lock,  no 
Colt  or  Maxwell,  and  no  revolver  ; — would  there  be  the  same  killing  spirit 
abroad  ?  Would  our  record  be  stained  with  countless  homicides  ?  Would 
human  life  be  so  cheap  ?  Would  laws  be  needed  against  concealed  weap 
ons  ?  Would  labor  be  taxed  as  it  is  for  expenses  of  jails  and  criminal 
courts  ?  Would  Judge  Lynch  hold  his  summary  court  as  often  as  he  does? 

To  moralize  or  grumble  is  fruitless.  The  facts  of  science  and  art  cannot 
be  changed.  Chemistry,  donor,  in  the  last  eighty  years,  of  so  many  good 
things  for  the  useful  arts,  gave  us  the  fulminate  for  the  percussion  cap,  and 
we  must  bear  the  consequences.  Chemistry  also  gave  us  (about  fifty  years 
ago)  the  friction  match— a  great  convenience  for  good  uses,  and  also  for 
bad ;  a  gift  of  inestimable  value  to  the  incendiary.  Even  the  nibbling  of  a 
rat  may  burn  your  store  or  dwelling,  which  he  never  could  have  done  with 
the  old  "  tinder-box,"  and  its  pine  splints  touched  at  the  end  with  brim 
stone.  Millions  of  property  and  some  lives  have  been  destroyed  by  the 
friction  matches;  and  we  might  have  been  a  richer  people  and  fully  as 
happy  if  we  had  kept  on  lighting  our  fires  with  "  flint  and  steel."  I  antici 
pate  the  pert  and  pertinent  query— >"  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?" 
And  I  answer— nothing. 

In  a  regular  autobiography,  the  writer  must  go  from  point  to  point 
seriately ;  but  in  a  Memoir  like  this  he  may  hop  round  like  a  sparrow  and 
pick  up  anything  he  likes.  So  I  now  go  back  to  the  age  of  five  or  six  years, 
when  I  first  saw  a  furnace  smelting  iron  ores.  My  uncle  was  then  at  Free 
dom  Iron  Works,  near  my  native  town,  and  having  no  children,  he  and  my 
aunt  often  had  me  to  stay  at  their  home.  He  had  a  furnace  and  a  forge 
driven  by  water  power ;  for  in  that  day,  the  steam  engine,  now  so  common, 
was  unknown  in  our  valley,  and  indeed  in  many  parts  of  Pennsylvania.  It 
was  only  twenty-five  years  or  so  since  Trevethick  in  England,  and  Oliver 
Evans  in  Philadelphia,  had  shown  what  high-pressure  steam  could  do,  thus 
supplementing  the  work  of  Watt,  and  providing  for  the  future  locomotive, 
of  which  all  of  them  had  dreamed  dreams.  If  any  of  our  home  people 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  33 

believed  in  the  steam  engine  at  all,  they  did  so  on  "  evidence  of  things  not 
seen  ;  "  but.  water  power  was  abundant,  and  steam  was  not  needed. 

My  uncle's  furnace  made  about  six  tons  of  pig  metal  in  twenty-four 
hours.  The  blast  was  made  in  two  large  wooden  tubs,  in  which  wooden 
pistons  were  alternately  pushed  down  by  earns  on  the  shaft  of  a  water- 
wheel,  and  drawn  up  by  balance  beams,  with  weights  on  their  ends ;  and 
the  blast  from  each  tub  went  through  its  own  pipe  to  the  one  tuyere  of  the 
furnace.  The  reservoir  tub,  for  both  pipes  to  blow  into,  and  thus  equalize 
the  blast  and  let  it  be  delivered  in  a  single  pipe  to  the  furnace,  had  not  been 
invented.  The  tuyere  was  of  clay,  kept  in  shape  by  the  "founder,"  who 
.with  a  long-handled  spatula  would  plaster  it  with  fresh  clay  when  needed. 
The  blast  pipes  were  partly  of  wood,  and  I  think  hoi;  blast  had  not  been 
dreamed  of.  Yet  our  furnace  was  on  a  level  with  the  best  of  that  date. 

I  suppose  the  first  iron  smelting  furnace  west  of  the  Mississippi,  near 
Caledonia,  Missouri,  had  blast  apparatus  similar  to  that  of  my  uncle's  fur 
nace.  I  have  not  been  able  to  get  the  name  of  its  builder  or  the  date  of  its 
erection,  probably  sixty  years  ago.  A  few  years  past,  I  saw  the  primitive 
machinery  of  a  furnace  and  forge  driven  by  water  power,  at  the  Maramec 
Iron  Works  of  Mr.  James,  in  Crawford  county,  Missouri,  where  a  remark 
able  spring,  worth  a  trip  from  St.  Louis  to  see,  has  power  for  large  opera 
tions.  The  early  iron  men,  who  built  the  furnace  near  Caledonia,  and  the 
works  at  the  head  of  the  Maramec,  brought  equal  courage  and  skill  to  these 
useful  enterprises.  The  first  furnace  at  the  Iron  Mountain  of  Missouri, 
built  by  James  Harrison  in  1842,  had  a  steam  engine  and  iron  blast  appar 
atus,  as  had  also  the  Pilot  Knob  Works,  built  by  Lewis  V.  Bogy  and 
Conrad  C.  Ziegler,  a  few  years  later.  Wm.  James,  Sr.,  Samuel  Massey, 
James  Harrison,  Lewis  V.  Bogy,  Conrad  C.  Ziegler,  and  the  (to  me)  un 
known  builder  of  the  Caledonia  furnace,  are  entitled  to  be  held  in  remem 
brance  as  pioneers  of  iron  for  all  of  the  continent  west  of  the  great  river. 
Some  of  them  perhaps  had  in  boyhood  no  better  school  house  than  the  one 
t  have  noted,  with  greased  paper  for  window  glass ;  but  all  were  men  of 
sterling  abilities.  Harrison  had  a  wonderful  capacity  for  affairs.  Bogy 
was  educated  at  the  academy  in  Kaskaskia,  and  while  a  student  registered 
his  intention  to  reach  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  in  later  life 
intention  became  fact. 

The  old  wooden  blast  tubs  have  had  their  day,  and  are  only  interesting 
as  having  helped  to  make  iron  for  us  when  we  had  nothing  better.  Away 
at  the  Freedom  Iron  Works  in  Pennsylvania,  where  I  first  saw  the  tubs, 
with  the  balance  beams  alternately  bowing  over  them  as  if  alive,  and  when 
the  pistons  were  drawn  up  the  "  clup,  clup,  clup  "  of  the  valves  inside  puz 
zling  my  boy  brain, — what  did  I  see  on  my  last  visit?  Immense  iron 
blowers  driven  by  ponderous  steam  engines,  and  Bessemer  "  converters," 
and  enormous  iron  rollers,  and  other  remorseless  contrivances,  to  turn  out 
long  steel  rails,  and  locomotive  tires,  and  other  great  products.  And  the 
works  are  not  called  "  Freedom  "  any  more  ;  which  is  perhaps  well  enough, 


34  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

owned  as  they  are  by  a  great  corporation,  and  the  "  hands  "  no  longer  the 
same  as  those  who  were  happy  under  my  good  uncle,  unknowing  of  strikes, 
and  free  as  the  deer  often  brought  down  with  their  flint-lock  rifles.  But 
the  corporation  is  not  niggard  in  providing  homes  for  the  workmen.  It  has 
long  rows  of  dwellings  for  their  use,  and  possibly  the  people  are  as  happy 
as  in  the  long  ago,  though  in  a  different  way. 

The  works  are  now  called  "  Logan,"  after  the  famous  Miiigo  chief,  whose 
home  was  three  miles  off",  at  the  head  of  the  picturesque  gorge  called 
"Jack's  Narrows,"  where  the  tumbling  Kishaioquillas  creek  makes  its 
way  through  Jack's  Mountain,  grinding  the  best  axes  in  the  world  at 
Mann's  factory  as  it  rushes  on.  Logan,  the  chief,  was  an  honest  man,  and 
a  helpful  friend  to  the  early  settlers.  He  was  a  native  gentleman,  and  val 
ued  his  honor.  Thus,  when  he  and  Judge  Brown  had  been  shooting  mark 
at  a  dollar  a  shot,  and  the  Chief  had  lost  five  shots,  he  at  once  brought  out 
five  deerskins  in  payment;  and  when  the  Judge  \vished  to  refuse  taking  them 
on  the  ground  that  the  shooting  had  been  for  sport  and  not  for  gain,  Logan 
insisted,  asserting  that  he  should  have  required  payment  if  he  had  won, 
and  so  was  in  honor  bound  to  pay  when  he  had  lost.  The  punctilious  Chief 
no  doubt  belonged  to  one  of  the  first  families  of  the  Mingoes.  When  game 
began  to  grow  scarce,  Logan  moved  to  a  new  home  on  the  Ohio  river,  had 
all  his  family  murdered  by  white  men,  took  a  fearful  revenge,  and  made  (as 
reported  by  Jefferson)  one  of  the  most  pathetic  speeches  in  any  tongue. 

I  would  like  to  have  two  pictures :  one  of  the  Freedom  works  as  they 
were  sixty  years  ago  (including  the  old  mansion  where  I  had  my  first  ear 
ache,  which  my  aunt  cured  by  a  roasted  onion) ;  and  one  of  the  Logan 
works  as  they  are  now.  Such  pictures  would  forcibly  illustrate  the  prog 
ress  of  iron  making  and  manufacture  in  three  score  years,  greater  than  the 
most  sanguine  imagination  could  have  bodied  forth. 

In  nearly  all  parts  of  Pennsylvania  there  are  now  furnaces  making  five, 
ten,  or  fifteen  times  as  many  tons  of  iron  per  day  as  could  be  made  by  any 
furnace  of  my  childhood  days.  And  great  rolling  machinery  has  taken  the 
place  of  the  forge  hammers  that  used  to  shape  the  bar  iron  and  plowshares. 
There  were  then  no  rolls  to  draw  out  the  iron,  and  no  steam  hammers  for 
heavy  forging.  Cort,  in  England,  had  introduced  puddling,  but  it  had  not 
reached  our  quiet  region,  where  we  wrought  out  so  much  bar-iron  and  so 
many  plowshares  to  be  carried  westward  over  the  Alleghenies,  and  some 
even  to  the  Mississippi  at  St.  Louis,  where  Henry  Shaw  dealt  in  Juniata 
iron  sixty  years  ago. 

No— we  still  had  the  old  forge-hammers,  thrown  up  by  arms  on  a  water- 
wheel  shaft,  against  a  spring  beam,  and  corning  down  with  force  to  lick 
into  shape  the  glowing  "  bloom"  on  the  anvil.  Unless  you  have  seen  it 
when  young  you  cannot  understand  what  a  grand  sight  it  was  to  boyhood's 
eager  eyes:  the  ponderous  but  unwearied  hammer  with  its  measured 
strokes — and  the  stalwart  hammerman,  active  as  a  prize-fighter,  skipping 
about  in  front  of  it  and  with  his  big  tongs  dexterously  turning  the  iron  on 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 


the  anvil,  and  proud  of  bringing  it  to  the  desired  shape.  No — you  have 
never  seen  it,  and  have  never  felt  your  little  but  then  honest  breast  swell 
ing  with  ambition  to  be  a  hammerman  I  And  when  work  went  on  in  'the 
dead  waist  and  middle  of  the  night,'  the  sound  of  the  hammer  floating  over 
the  valley  and  echoing  from  the  neighboring  hills,  and  mingling  with  the 
voices  of  the  stream — what  music  more  delightful  ever  crept  into  the 
drowsy  ear  ? 

It  was  a  slow  way  to  make  iron  compared  with  present  modes,  but  the 
old  iron  was  excellent,  and  the  world  had  all  it  needed  or  wished.  It  wrants 
a  great  deal  more  now,  even  in  proportion  to  population.  Our  fifty  and  more 
million  people  need  a  great  deal  more  iron  to  the  million  than  our  ten  mil 
lions  did  when  I  was  a  boy.  Railways,  iron  ships,  steam-engines,  and  ma 
chinery  in  forms  innumerable  and  almost  incomprehensible,  multiply  the 
demands  for  iron  and  steel,  and  will  continue  to  multiply  them.  But  with 
blast  furnaces  in  the  United  States  able  to  make  8,000,000  tons  of  pig-iron  a 
year,  and  Bessemer-works  to  make  3,000,000  tons  of  steel,  demands  will  not 
outrun  supplies.  Prof.  Liebig  said  that  the  civilization  of  a  nation  is  meas 
ured  by  the  SOAP  consumed.  I  think  the  degree  of  power  can  be  fairly 
measured  by  the  iron  produced.  Counting  (for  ease  of  figuring)  2,000  pounds 
to  the  ton,  the  iron  production  in  Uncle  Sam's  domain  stands  for  the  years 
noted : 

TABLE   SHOWING  IRON  PER   CAPITA   PRODUCED  PROM  1810  TO  1880. 


Year. 

Population. 

Iron  in  Tuns. 

Iron  in  Pounds. 

Share  to  each  Person. 

1810 
1820 

7,229,814 
9,054,596 

54,000 
20,000 

108,000,000 
40,000,000 

15.00  pounds. 
4.10 

1830 

12,866,020 

16T>,000 

330,000,000 

25.50 

1840 

17,069,453 

315,000 

630,000,000 

36.90 

1850 

23,191,876 

564,755 

1,129,510,000 

48.70 

1860 

31,443,321 

821,223 

1,642,446,000 

52.23 

1870 

38,558,371 

1,655,179 

3,310,358,000 

85.07 

1880 

50,155,783 

3,835,191 

7,070,382,000 

133.00 

The  decreased  production  of  1820  as  compared  with  1810  was  owing  to  a 
general  break-up  of  industries  after  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain,  of 
which  the  present  younger  generation  knows  little,  and  can  hardly  find  out 
anything.  Starting  with  1830,  which  may  be  considered  the  starting  year 
of  railroads,  when  the  value  of  the  locomotive  was  no  longer  doubted,  we  see 
that  in  the  half  century  the  iron  production  per  capita  rose  from  25£  to  133 
pounds ;  or  more  than  five  times  as  many  pounds  to  each  person  in  1880  as 
in  1830.  This  great  increase  did  not  go  into  big  guns  to  kill  people,  but  into 
railroads,  ships,  boats,  engines,  and  machinery  of  all  kinds  to  produce 
wealth,  diffuse  comfort,  and  (if  people  would  only  be  good)  to  promote 
happiness. 


36  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY    YEARS. 

All  iron  in  my  early  days  was  made  with  charcoal  as  fuel.  It  is  only  a 
little  over  forty  years  since  the  smelting  of  iron  ores  with  mineral  fuel  began 
in  America ;  and  it  began  in  Pennsylvania,  always  noted  for  her  production 
of  iron,  and  for  demanding  the  "  protection"  of  her  great  industry.  Most 
estimable  patriots  the  Pennsylvaniaus  are,  and  devoted  to  the  metal  most 
useful  of  all ;  but  I  scout  the  tale,  set  afloat  by  the  envious,  that  the  people 
of  the  "  Keystone  State,"  as  they  delight  to  call  their  Commonwealth,  be 
lieve  the  Celestial  streets  to  be  paved  with  pig-iron  instead  of  gold  ;  nor  do 
I  credit  the  assertion  of  the  unregenerate,  that  every  Peimsylvanian  so  for 
tunate  in  the  hereafter  as  to  tread  the  golden  streets,  longs  even  there  for  a 
tariff  on  iron  to  promote  domestic  production  !  No — no.  When  a  true  Penn- 
sylvanian  enters  Paradise,  he  gives  up  (I  do  verily  believe)  the  "  tariff  on 
iron,"  but  probably  never  before. 

Our  production  of  iron  is  a  measure  of  power  that  statesmen  will  take 
note  of;  but  all  men  in  high  places  are  not  statesmen.  Too  many  are  like 
the  amateur  operator  in  "futures"  of  the  grain  market. 

'•  Were  you  a  bull  or  a  bear?"  his  friend  inquired. 

"  I  was  neither.    I  was  an  ass." 

What  I  did  to  urge  forward  the  smelting  of  iron  ores  by  the  use  of  anthra 
cite  coal,  cannot  be  told.  Editors  of  newspapers  may  imagine  it.  If  I  had 
files  I  could  show  that  "we"  did  not  spare  effort  to  circulate  information  in 
regard  to  mineral  fuel  elsewhere,  and  to  encourage  its  use  in  Pennsylvania, 
forty-four  or  forty-five  years  ago.  But  what  matters  all  this  ?  Newspaper 
fellows  don't  expect  credit  for  all  the  good  they  do  in  this  world. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  37 


CHAPTER    VI. 

SUNDAY  TOPICS —NO  DAILY  PAPERS  IN  THE  COVE  —  CHRISTIANS  —  MY  GOOD 
AUNT  —  THE  GREAT  CORPORATION  —  THE  AGGREGATE  SOUL  NOT  DEAD  TO 
THE  HUMANITIES  —  CAMBRAl'S  CIVILIZATION  —  THE  CITY  OP  PULLMAN  — 
A  VERY  SIMPLE  PROBLEM — HUMAN  NATURE  NOT  ANGELIC — PATRIARCHAL 
POSITION — PATRICIANS  AND  PLEBEIANS — ARISTOCRACY — OLD  TIME  LITERA 
TURE — THE  ALMANAC — EXPERIMENT  IN  PNEUMATICS — ALSO  WITH  PROJEC 
TILES—MY  UNCLE  KNEW  MORE  THAN  GEORGE  WASHINGTON— NIAGARA  TO 
BE  UTILIZED  —  A  BOY'S  PLEASURES  AND  TROUBLES  —  EARLY  STUDIES  IN 
GEOLOGY  —  A  SELF-DEVOTED  OX  —  IDENTITY  OF  THE  BOY. 

That  tariff  on  iron !  I  first  heard  of  it  more  than  fifty-five  years  ago,  in 
the  Presidential  contest  of  1828.  It  has  been  a  topic  for  discussion  ever  since, 
but  whether  from  lack  of  statesmanship  or  other  cause,  I  am  not  required 
to  decide.  I  was  then  at  my  uncle's  iron  works  in  Bedford  county.  He  was 
strongly  in  favor  of  the  tariff,  and  talked  of  it  on  week-days  to  his  visitors 
and  the  hands;  but  the  latter  were  mostly  "Jackson  men,"  and  voted 
against  my  uncle's  side  at  elections.  On  Sundays  the  tariff  was  laid  aside ; 
and  the  subjects  of  Predestination,  Free-will,  Foreknowledge,  Omniscience, 
Fixed  Fate,  and  Sins  of  Omission  and  Commission,  were  then  up  for  discus 
sion,  as  secular  topics  were  not  suited  to  the  sanctity  of  the  sabbath,  although 
it  was  "a  work  of  necessity"  for  the  furnace  to  run. 

Pious  Presbyterians  they  were,  my  uncle  and  aunt,  but  their  mansion  — 
"the  big  house,"  as  it  was  called  among  the  hands — opened  as  hospitably  to 
the  Methodist  Circuit  Rider  as  to  the  Presbyterian  Minister,  and  their  secta 
rian  horses  had  equal  stalls  and  fodder.  Elaborate  discussions  of  religious 
questions  often  took  place,  the  preachers  of  course  participating,  but  all  con 
ducted  with  courtesy  and  dignity,  though  frequently  enlivened  by  wit  and 
humor  worth  preserving,  but  lost  forever  as  the  moments  fled,  like  so  many 
good  things  that  you  may  have  said,  My  Dear  Reader.  That  anybody  ever 
changed  the  opinion  of  anybody  else,  or  yielded  a  shred  of  his  own,  I  do  not 
aver  ;  but  they  talked  and  argued  very  earnestly,  and  with  a  fullness  of  in 
formation  on  religious  history,  creeds,  doctrines,  and  sectarian  distinctions, 
not  likely  to  be  displayed  in  any  home  circle  now,  and  that  would  be  incom 
prehensible  in  many.  In  remote  neighborhoods  like  our  "  cove,"  people  did 


38  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY   YEARS. 

not  then  enjoy  the  advantage  of  daily  newspapers,  full  of  murders,  fires,  sui 
cides,  accidents,  outrages,  and  horrors  of  all  kinds,  for  family  delectation. 
Books  were  scarce,  and  there  was  little  periodical  literature.  Hence  for  in 
tellectual  entertainment  they  read  the  Bible  and  "Commentaries"  on  it,  and 
thought  and  talked  of  the  mysteries  of  Creation,  God's  Providence,  Adam's 
fall,  Salvation  by  Atonement,  the  doctrine  of  "  Election,"  the  power  of  Sav 
ing  Grace,  and  cognate  subjects;  not  forgetting  to  give  the  Pope  and  his  peo 
ple  a  rap  now  and  then. 

Truly,  I  think  my  uncle  and  aunt  were  Christians  in  thought  and  deed. 
Blessed  with  faith  and  hope  (of  which  Col.  Ingersoll  would  rob  poor  human 
ity),  they  had  no  more  doubt  of  the  truth  as  they  believed  it  to  be,  than  they 
had  of  the  stream  in  the  cove,  and  the  mountains  on  its  sides.  Righteous 
they  were  in  all  things  ;  and  I  am  sure  that  even  the  tariff  on  iron  was  de 
sired  by  my  uncle  as  much  for  the  benefit  of  the  laborers,  and  of  other  iron 
workers,  as  of  himself.  They  had  at  heart  the  welfare  of  the  folks  about 
them.  My  aunt  had  her  Sunday  school  for  the  children  of  the  work  people, 
taught  the  Bible  class  herself,  and  distributed  tracts  as  regularly  as  the 
sacred  day  came  round.  Not  only  did  she  visit  the  mothers  at  their  homes, 
to  see  that  all  went  well  with  them,  but  had  them  to  come  up,  one  after 
another,  to  spend  an  afternoon  in  her  own  "sitting-room,"  in  order  to  instruct 
them  in  needlework  and  other  economies,  and  raise  their  thoughts  to  a 
higher  plane  by  improving  conversation.  If  any  were  in  distress,  she  was 
the  Lady  Bountiful ;  and  in  cases  of  sickness  would  carefully  administer 
sage  and  elder-blossom  tea,  and  other  potent  remedies.  Memory  fondly 
lingers  in  retrospect  of  her  good  works.  At  the  great  iron  establishments  we 
have  now,  such  as  the  Logan  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  Vulcan  in  Missouri, 
there  is  no  one  like  my  revered  aunt,  who  died  but  a  few  years  ago,  past 
eighty,  after  a  life  of  unselfish  goodness.  No  more  the  owner  knows  per 
sonally  his  "  operatives,"  as  my  uncle  did  the  "hands"  at  his  furnace  and 
forge.  No  more  the  lady  of  "  the  big  house"  illustrates  in  her  daily  life  the 
best  teachings  of  her  religion,  and  lives  only  to  confer  blessings.  The  great 
corporation — an  incident  and  necessity  of  our  changed  conditions  —  has  no 
separate  soul,  no  wife,  no  Lady  Bountiful ;  no  eye  to  recognize  the  grimy 
toiler,  and  no  heart  to  soften  in  tenderness  toward  him. 

Yet  the  aggregate  soul  of  the  great  corporation  is  not  dead  to  the  humani 
ties.  Railroads  have  hospitals  for  the  "weary,  wounded,  sick  and  sore,"  of 
their  lines.  The  Cambrai  Iron  Works  of  Pennsylvania,  covering  by  various 
departments  three  miles  in  length  of  territory  in  the  western  flank  of  the  Al- 
leghanies,  and  giving  employment  to  ten  thousand  persons,  have  most  com 
plete  arrangements  for  their  intellectual  as  well  as  material  wants — a  concert 
room,  a  lecture  hall,  a  course  of  free-hand  drawing,  of  mechanical  drawing, 
and  of  geology  and  mining  engineering  ; — no  one  is  discharged  except  for 
cause ;  the  disabled  and  infirm  are  taken  care  of,  and  there  are  no  strikes. 
Pullman's  name  is  perpetuated  in  a  little  city  built  by  his  car  company,  that 
does  for  the  comfort,  safety,  cleanliness  and  culture  of  his  employees,  what 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  39 

his  cars  do  for  the  convenience,  comfort,  and  luxury  of  travellers.  I  have 
faith  that  the  aggregate  and  corporate  soul,  although  not  capable  of  eternal 
salvation,  is  not  entirely  beyond  the  reach  of  humane  impulses  ;  especially 
as  self-interest  goes  hand  in  hand  with  righteousness,  so  far  as  ample  minis 
tration  to  the  welfare  of  those  in  their  service  is  concerned.  Day  by  day 
stronger  minds  are  needed  to  manage  the  great  enterprises ;  and  the  capa 
city  to  run  a  long  line  of  railroad,  or  a  manufacturing  concern  covering  acres 
of  ground  and  employing  thousands  of  hands,  must  in  time  solve  the  prob 
lem  of  binding  the  servants  of  the  corporation  to  its  interests  by  making  its 
welfare  and  prosperity  the  surest  pledge  of  their  own.  It  is  a  very  simple 
problem  ;  but  greed  is  often  blind,  and  only  wakes  up  to  great  truths  after 
its  head  has  been  thumped  a  little. 

How  much  good  my  aunt  really  did  among  her  people,  I  was  too  young 
to  judge.  Perhaps  their  self-respect  was  elevated  by  her  teachings,  and 
their  occasional  association  with  one  of  her  rank  and  character.  Such  ought 
to  have  been  the  result.  But  human  nature  is  not  angelic.  Mrs.  Sarah 
Jones,  the  wife  of  a  forgemaii,  was  on  her  way  to  the  mansion  one  afternoon, 
when  I  overheard  one  of  her  neighbors  saying  to  another,  "  There  goes  Sal 
Jones  up  to  the  big  house  to  rub  against  quality!"  But  possibly  the  one 
sneering  thus  had  not  yet  herself  been  up  to  the  big  house,  and  a  rub  against 
quality  may  subsequently  have  smoothed  down  her  asperities,  when  envy 
no  longer  inflamed. 

The  owner  of  iron  works  in  Pennsylvania  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago  was 
often  the  most  important  figure  in  a  wide  district,  and  held  a  position  some 
what  patriarchal.  Neighboring  farmers  found  a  market  for  their  products 
at  his  works,  and  at  times  their  teams  were  employed  in  hauling  ore  or  coal. 
Naturally  enough  the  Iron  Master,  his  family  and  clerks,  superior  to  most 
of  the  people  near  them  in  education,  culture,  and  manners,  ranked  as  "qua 
lity."  For  there  were  patricians  and  plebeians  in  those  "good  old  times." 
Judges,  lawyers,  doctors,  and  the  principal  "storekeepers,"  constituted  in 
the  towns  a  sort  of  aristocracy,  and  held  themselves  rather  above  the  com 
monalty,  made  up  of  mechanics,  the  lesser  shopkeepers,  and  so  on.  The  lines 
were  not  very  distinctly  drawn,  but  they  existed,  and  the  social  boundaries 
were  not  often  stepped  over.  Farmers  of  the  old  families  and  owners  of 
grist-mills  in  the  country  were  "quality"  if  their  intellectual  development 
and  personal  deportment  warranted.  Solid  worth,  however,  always  had  its 
due  respect ;  and  when  Fred.  Holman  had  got  rich  in  Philadelphia,  and 
paid  our  native  town  a  visit,  he  was  recognized  as  a  gentleman,  although  his 
good  old  mother  had  sold  cakes  and  beer  and  taffy  to  raise  means  for  his 
schooling  —  not  malt  and  hop  beer  like  that  made  by  Joseph  Dysant  at 
the  big  spring,  but  "small  beer,"  made  with  molasses  and  other  harmless 
things  —  a  most  refreshing  beverage,  now  obsolete.  The  Pennsylvanians 
used  to  have  a  great  deal  to  say  about  the  "  aristocracy  "  of  the  Southern 
planters,  but  I  think  there  was  as  much  of  the  caste  feeling  in  their  own 
State  as  elsewhere.  Nor  did  position  depend  on  pecuniary  circumstances. 


40  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

Families  of  but  moderate  means  often  balanced  their  poverty  by  their  pride, 
and  never  thought  of  themselves  as  less  than  the  social  equals  of  'any.  It 
was  not  a  pride  offensive  or  injurious  to  anybody  high  or  low,  but  only  a 
feeling  that  they  were  of  right  ladies  and  gentlemen,  above  mean  things, 
and  with  a  record  entitling  them  to  top  seats  so  long  as  they  behaved  them 
selves. 

Beyond  the  Bible,  the  Commentaries  on  it,  the  Psalm  and  Hymn  books, 
and  the  book  of  Common  Prayer,  our  literature  was  not  extensive.  I 
remember  the  Waverley  Novels,  Thaddeus  of  Warsaw,  and  the  Children 
of  the  Abbey,  as  books  that  I  heard  talked  of  long,  long  ago  ;  and  Scott's 
poems  were  read  and  Burns'  songs  were  sung  by  the  fireside.  Montgomery 
and  Campbell  were  also  popular ;  and  everybody  read  Rasselas,  the  Vicar 
of  Wakefield,  and  the  Deserted  Village.  Pope  and  Young  were  much  en 
joyed  by  the  elderly  folks.  Milton  was  held  in  high  regard,  but,  I  think, 
not  much  read,  nor  is  he  now.  Moore  was  tolerated,  but  Byron  was  consid 
ered  wicked.  Shakespeare's  works  and  a  few  of  the  better  plays  of  later 
authors  were  not  unknown.  It  would  do  me  good  to  hear  the  songs  of  Burns 
again  as  I  used  to  hear  them  in  our  home  circles.  Many  of  the  people  were 
of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  and  their  hearts  warmed  to  the  minstrelsy  of  the 
plowman  poet.  The  Almanac  was  an  important  annual ;  in  some  quarters 
it  ranked  next  to  the  Bible,  and  was  about  as  safe  a  weather-prophet  as 
any  since. 

While  I  was  in  Bedford  county  my  uncle  tried  an  experiment  in  Pneu 
matics.  He  had  built  a  new  furnace  up  the  creek  from  his  old  works,  at  the 
base  of  a  swell  affording  easy  approach  to  its  top  (there  being  no  machinery 
then  to  hoist  the  ore  and  fuel) ;  but  the  waterfall  was  a  thousand  feet  or 
more  away,  and  the  question  was,  whether  to  put  the  water-wheel  at  the 
furnace,  and  carry  the  water  to  it  in  a  costly  forebay,  or  to  put  the  wheel 
and  blast  apparatus  at  the  fall,  and  carry  the  blast.  This  would  be  a  ques 
tion  easily  settled  now,  but  the  science  of  Pneumatics  has  advanced  since 
1827.  My  uncle  reasoned  that  if  a  pipe  would  carry  air  forty  feet,  it  would 
carry  it  a  thousand  feet,  or  more;  and  although  the  "Founder,"  or  chief 
man  in  operating  the  furnace,  had  no  faith  in  the  plan,  yet  the  pipes  were 
laid  and  the  machinery  started.  It  operated  beautifully.  The  blast  not  only 
reached  the  furnace,  but  was  more  regular  in  its  pressure  than  any  known 
before  ;  and  other  Iron  Masters  came  over  from  the  other  side  of  the  moun 
tains  to  see  the  new  arrangement.  I  was  not  a  little  proud  of  that  experi 
ment,  as  its  grand  success  restored  to  my  uncle  among  the  hands  some  of 
the  credit  he  had  lost  the  year  before  by  his  heresy  in  regard  to  gun-locks, 
and  we  all  thought  him  a  man  of  wonderful  knowledge. 

The  reader  smiles,  perhaps,  at  my  good  uncle  for  not  knowing  that  the 
blast  could  be  carried ;  but  let  us  remember  that  in  those  days  there  had 
been  no  drilling  of  tunnels  through  the  Alps,  or  even  in  gold  or  silver  mines, 
by  the  use  of  compressed  air ;  no  transmission  of  packages  in  tubes  ;  no 
atmospheric  motors  on  railways  ;  no  sinking  of  piles  or  piers  a  hundred  feet 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  41 

under  water,  as  at  the  St.  Louis  Bridge,  imitated  by  Rcebling,  without 
acknowledgment,  at  Brooklyn  ;  and  no  scheme  of  a  tunnel  under  the  British 
Channel,  only  possible  by  the  use  of  carried  air.  Brunei's  costly  experi 
ments  with  air-tubes  on  the  Great  Western  Railway  in  England  were  not 
tried  till  1845.  Lord  Cochrane  did  not  patent  his  air-lock  till  1831 ;  William 
Bush  put  forth  his  views  in  1841 ;  and  Pfaunmuller's  plans  for  the  Mayence 
bridge  were  only  developed  in  1850.  In  truth,  we  now  know  a  great  deal 
more  than  my  uncle  did,  and  he  knew  more  than  George  Washington,  for 
George  had  never  seen  a  percussion  gun-lock.  We  now  know  that  if  we 
had  Niagara  utilized  (as  it  will  be  some  day),  it  could  be  made  to  generate 
enough  electric  force  to  light  up  almost  the  whole  State  of  New  York,  and 
have  power  enough  left,  with  adequate  "compressors,"  to  drive  all  the  en 
gines  in  Buffalo,  and  dispense  with  steam.  When  in  the  future  some  enter 
prising  Buffalofer  gets  a  patent  on  all  these  things,  he  must  buy  up  all  my 
"Notes,"  or  they  will  throw  him  out  of  Court  when  he  claims  Royalty. 

The  blacksmith  also  tried  an  experiment,  in  projectile  force.  A  stove-plate 
had  been  broken,  and,  as  a  new  plate  could  not  conveniently  be  got,  it  was 
important  to  mend  the  old  one.  Castings  were  then  quite  coarse,  as  all  were- 
made  at  the  furnace,  and  how  to  drill  holes  in  the  plate  was  the  question ;  but 
if  the  holes  could  be  drilled  a  strip  of  iron  could  be  riveted  on  to  hold  the  pieces 
together.  Having  no  drill,  for  tools  were  not  as  plenty  as  in  modern  shops, 
Mr.  Alexander,  the  smith,  marked  the  pieces  of  the  plate  with  dots  of  chalk 
where  the  holes  were  wanted,  set  them  up  one  at  a  time,  and  with  his  rifle 
at  a  rest  shot  through  each  of  them.  The- holes  were  clear  and  distinct,  the 
stove-plate  was  soon  restored  to  duty,  and  Mr.  Alexander  took  high  rank  as 
a  knowing  and  handy  man.  He  was  talked  about  even  on  the  other  side  of 
the  mountains,  as  far  away  as  Loudon,  in  Franklin  county,  where  they  had 
a  tilt-hammer  to  draw  nail-rods,  and  where  Thomas  A.  Scott  was  born. 
The  principle  involved  in  Mr.  Alexander's  exploit  was  the  same  as  that  now 
applied  to  the  projectile  designed  to  penetrate  a  ship's  armor,  and  some 
cannon-ball  maker  may  have  heard  of  our  smith's  success  with  the  stove- 
plate  ;  but  Mr.  Alexander  had  never  heard  of  armored  ships,  as  none  had 
then  been  thought  of.  He  may  have  heard  some  one  say,  that  you  can  shoot 
a  tallow  candle  through  an  inch-board  if  the  powder  charge  is  right.  With 
all  a  boy's  interest  and  wonder,  I  witnessed  that  unique  feat  of  drilling, 
which  I  doubt  not  was  the  first  of  its  kind,  and  may  possibly  have  been 
the  last. 

I  ought  to  have  been  happy  at  my  uncle's,  but  do  not  think  I  was.  Pleas 
ures  I  had,  but  boys  are  sometimes  not  gifted  to  enjoy  the  serenity  of  hap 
piness.  My  pleasaiitest  hours,  I  think,  were  those  in  which  I  wandered  off 
alone,  up  the  mountain  side  to  the  coaling  grounds,  where  the  colliers  told 
me  how  to  manage  the  mounds  they  called  "pits";  or  down  the  creek  to  the 
quarry,  where  the  fossil  shells  in  the  blue  limestone  excited  my  wonder, 
and  puzzled  my  juvenile  philosophy.  It  seemed. strange  that  the  Creator 
could  have  spared  time  in  the  six  days  of  world-making  to  put  all  these  curi- 


42  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

ous  forms  in  the  rocks ;  but  I  thought  it  very  kind  of  him  to  finish  off  the 
rocks  in  layers,  so  easily  taken  out  for  building  houses,  as  well  as  for  use 
as  flux  in  the  furnace.  I  would  often  lay  aside  my  fishing-rod  and  muse 
at  the  quarry,  trying  to  think  it  all  out ;  but  I  never  took  any  of  the  other 
boys  into  my  confidence.  I  felt  that  the  rude  urchins  could  not  under 
stand  the  rocks,  or  the  impression  they  made  on  me ;  and  it  would  have 
seemed  profanation  to  let  them  know  the  inquisitive  awe  with  which  I  re 
garded  the  wonderful  contents  of  the  quarry.  It  is  long  since  I  have  learned 
how  philosophers  account  for  the  shells  in  the  limestone,  and  for  the 
length  of  the  "  days  "  in  which  the  world  was  created  ;  but  I  can  never  for 
get  my  first  studies  in  Geology  at  the  old  stone  quarry,  and  I  fear  that  I 
have  never  since  been  quite  so  near  to  the  Creator  as  when  musing  there  as 
if  in  his  very  presence. 

The  boy's  troubles  !  My  little  water-wheels  and  tilt-hammers  in  the  run 
would  not  always  work  well,  and  sometimes  the  rain  would  come  in  the 
night  and  sweep  them  away.  My  kites  would  fly,  but  I  never  could  get  a 
long  enough  string.  I  wanted  to  shoot,  but  had  no  gun.  Don't  tell  me  that 
the  boy  of  nine  or  ten  years  finds  life  all  sunshine.  His  wants  outrun  his 
means  as  certainly  as  in  maturer  life.  I  could  swim  writh  any  boy  of  niy 
years,  but  others  could  catch  more  fish  —  though  I  could  wade  along  the 
shores  of  the  dam  and  get  as  many  leeches  on  my  bare  legs  as  the  best  of 
them.  I  could  go  tolerably  well  in  a  foot-race,  but  I  went  down  as  a  wrest 
ler.  With  the  bow  and  arrow  I  could  hit  as  near  the  mark  as  any ;  and  I 
was  the  first  to  find  out  that  the  tap  of  a  pin  at  one  end  of  a  saw-log  could  be 
heard  by  a  boy  with  his  ear  against  the  other  end  —  an  experiment  in  acous 
tics  that  even  attracted  the  attention  of  the  schoolmaster.  But  I  was  a  poor 
fighter  and  disliked  the  "  code,  "which  required  a  boy,  if  challenged,  to 
fight,  or  else  lose  caste  as  absurdly  as  among  grown  men.  Tom  Mills  chal 
lenged  me  to  a  fist-fight,  and  I  had  not  courage  to  refuse.  He  was  a  better 
fighter  than  I,  and  I  had  to  "holler  enough."  In  fact,  I  had  too  much,  and 
have  disliked  fighting  ever  since. 

When  I  look  back  so  far  it  seems  at  times  as  if  the  boy  fishing  for  trout 
that  so  rarely  came  to  land,  or  feeling  proud  of  the  leeches  on  his  ankles,  or 
trying  to  fight  Tom  Mills,  or  wandering  up  the  mountain  to  where  the  char 
coal  was  made,  or  musing  over  the  shells  at  the  quarry, — was  not  ME,  but 
some  other  boy,  and  I  am  almost  sorry  that  the  boy  WAS  me,  as  he  appears 
not  to  have  amounted  to  much.  Yet  he  had  a  tender  heart ;  for  on  butcher- 
ing-day  in  the  fall,  wrhen  a  yard  full  of  cattle  and  a  pen  of  hogs  were  killed, 
as  usual  at  that  season  (the  forge  being  stopped,  and  all  hands  aiding  to 
slaughter  and  dress  the  animals),  he  soon  tired  of  the  sport  of  blowing  up 
bladders  and  bursting  them  to  enjoy  the  noise,  and  began  to  pity  the  poor 
dumb  brutes  destined  to  death  ;  and  when  the  last  ox,  having  seen  his  com 
panions  one  by  one  driven  to  the  gate  and  shot  down,  came  up  of  his  own 
accord  to  the  fatal  spot,  and  quietly  awaited  the  swift  bullet  in  his  forehead, 
the  boy  could  bear  it  no  longer,  but  went  to  his  aunt  in  tears,  declaring 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  43 

between  sobs  that  he  would  never,  never  eat  another  piece  of  beef  as  long 
as  he  lived ! 

Yes— in  writing  of  long-gone  scenes  and  events,  identity  seems  at  times 
merged  into  some-one  else ;  but  a  gleam  of  sunshine  on  the  landscape,  the 
flitting  of  a  cloud-shadow  along  a  hillside,  the  purling  of  a  rivulet,  the  note 
of  a  familiar  bird,  or  the  whites  of  the  leaves  as  they  tnrn  up  in  the  summer 
breeze,  foretelling  a  shower,  as  we  used  to  believe — all  just  as  they  gleamed, 
and  flitted,  and  purled,  and  sang,  and  turned  up  to  the  summer  air,  in  early 
days — may  illuminate  old  memories,  and  bring  me  back  at  once  to  the  exqui 
site  identity  of  boyhood,  and  then  I  am  sure  that  the  boy  was  never  anyone 
but  ME  after  all,  and  I  try  to  think  as  well  of  him  as  I  honestly  can. 

My  excellent  aunt  read  aloud  in  a  manner  seldom  equaled,  and  had  fault 
less  taste  in  selections.  She  was  almost  as  fond  of  one  little  sketch  of  events 
that  occurred  a  long  time  ago,  as  she  was  of  the  CV,  the  CVII,  and  the 
CXV  Psalms,  which  she  read  every  Sunday  evening,  when  we  had  no  min 
ister  or  circuit-rider  visiting  us.  As  some  of  my  readers  may  possibly  never 
have  read  the  little  sketch,  I  quote  it  for  their  benefit : 

"A  certain  man  named:  Ananias,  and  Sapphira  his  wife,  sold  a  possession 
and  kept  back  part  of  the  price  (his  wife  also  being  privy  to  it),  and  brought 
a  certain  part  and  laid  it  at  the  apostles'  feet.  But  Peter  said,  Ananias, 
why  hath  Satan  filled  thine  heart  to  lie  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to  keep  back 
part  of  the  price  of  the  land  ?  While  it  remained,  was  it  not  thine  own  ? 
And  after  it  was  sold  was  it  not  in  thine  own  power  ?  Why  hast  thou  con 
ceived  this  thing  in  thine  heart  ?  Thou  hast  not  lied  unto  men,  but  unto 
God.  And  Ananias,  hearing  these  words,  fell  down  and  gave  up  the  ghost. 
And  great  fear  came  upon  all  them  that  heard  these  things.  And  the  young 
men  arose,  wound  him  up,  and  carried  him  out  and  buried  him.  And  it 
was  about  the  space  of  three  hours  after,  when  his  wife,  not  knowing  what 
was  done,  came  in.  And  Peter  said  unto  her,  Tell  me  whether  ye  sold  the 
land  for  so  much  ?  And  she  said,  Yea,  for  so  much.  Then  Peter  said  unto 
her,  How  is  it  that  ye  have  agreed  together  to  tempt  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  ? 
— behold  the  feet  of  them  which  have  buried  thy  husband  are  at  the  door, 
and  shall  carry  thee  out.  Then  she  fell  down  straightway  at  his  feet  and 
yielded  up  the  ghost.  And  the  young  men  came  in,  and  found  her  dead, 
and,  carrying  her  forth,  buried  her  beside  her  husband.  And  great  fear 
come  upon  all  the  church  and  upon  as  many  as  heard  these  things." 

My  aunt  would  sometimes  let  me  read  the  Psalms  aloud,  and  also  the 
little  sketch;  and,  while  I  felt  sorry  for  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  I  would 
wonder  why  the  Jackson  men  were  not  stricken  down,  who  said  so  many 
bad  things  of  Henry  Clay  and  John  Quincy  Adams.  I  thought,  too,  of  Eve 
giving  Adam  the  apple,  and  I  thought  the  case  of  Ananias  was  a  kind  of 
set-off,  as  no  doubt  he  contrived  the  deceit,  and  got  poor  Sapphira  into 
trouble. 


44  NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

OLD-TIME  HARVESTING  — WHISKEY  IN  THE  FIELD  —  BARNS  —  TRAMPING 
OUT  GRAIN  — FLAILS  — FIRST  THRASHING  MACHINES  — SHAW'S  HAY- 
RAKE—CAST  IRON  PLOWS— ARTHUR  LONG'S  MOLDBOARDS  — HOME 
MADE  SHOES  —  WOMAN'S  WORK  —  COUNTRY  PLEASURES — SINGING 

SCHOOLS  AND  APPLE  BUTTER  M AKING  —  A  QUILTING  PARTY  — MRS. 
KOCHANOUR  NOT  PRESENT  —  SHOOTING  STARS  OF  1833  — PERIL  AND 
PANIC— A  STAR  POEM. 

The  first  harvesting  I  ever  saw  was  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  on  Judge  Ed- 
miston's  farm,  where  some  men  were  reaping  with  sickles,  now  gone  out  of 
use  entirely,  I  believe.  The  cradle  was  then  in  use,  too,  and  it  was  an 
inspiring  sight  to  see  four  or  five  muscular  cradlers  leaning  to  their  work, 
and  swinging  their  cradles  in  unison — deftly  dropping  the  cut  grain  behind 
them  for  the  rakers  and  binders  who  followed.  Animation  and  suggestion 
of  utility  were  blended  in  the  scene.  It  was  the  poetry  of  rural  work  in 
motion,  and  very  proud  of  their  skill  were  those  cradlers.  The  man  who 
could  hold  the  lead  was  a  sort  of  hero,  while  the  ambition  of  others  to  equal 
him  had  the  pleasant  result  of  helping  on  the  work.  My  good  father 
always  applauded  the  efforts  of  the  emulous  and  smiled  on  the  strife  for 
excellence,  as  it  brought  down  his  wheat  and  rye  the  more  rapidly. 

Harvesting  meant  some  hard  work,  but  not  a  little  jollity  and  enjoyment. 
It  was  a  jocund  season;  there  was  often  much  merriment,  and  many  a 
meagre  joke  was  greeted  with  fat  laughter.  The  world  was  bounded  north 
and  south  by  mountains,  and  though  it  was  open  at  both  ends,  few  of  the 
people  ever  got  out  of  the  valley.  But  we  had  innocent  gaiety  enough. 
When  at  last  their  bodies  were  laid  to  rest,  their  souls  mostly  went  up 
wards  ;  for  Thomas  Paine  was  unknown,  and  there  was  no  Col.  Ingersoll  to 
rob  them  of  hope  and  give  nothing  in  return. 

In  the  present  age  of  "  Prohibition,"  the  reader  may  be  shocked  to  learn 
that  in  the  harvest  fields  of  central  Pennsylvania  three-score  years  ago,  the 
use  of  whiskey  was  almost  universal.  Neighborhood  distilleries  furnished 
a  limpid  liquor  obtained  from  rye,  and  the  general  rule  was  for  each  farmer 
to  get  "  a  bar'l  o'  whiskey  for  harvest."  The  fluid  was  sometimes  colored 
by  putting  toasted  dried  peaches  into  the  barrel,  but  it  was  still  in  a  very 
raw  condition,  though  free  of  deadly  drugs. 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY    YEARS.  45 

Once  in  my  life  I  got  drunk.  I  was  but  a  child,  and  having  strolled  to 
the  harvest  field,  was  told  to  stay  in  the  shade  of  the  tree,  where  the  whis 
key  jug  and  water  pail  were  sheltered  from  the  sun.  Having  seen  the  men 
pouring  from  the  jug  into  the  tin  cup  and  drinking,  I  wondered  what  it  was 
that  was  so  good  they  smacked  their  lips  after  partaking  of  it.  So,  after 
they  left,  I  poured  and  sipped.  The  result  was  a  "  solitary  drunk."  I  think 
there  was  no  exhilaration  at  all,  but  dreadful  nausea,  and  a  very  sick 
but  unconscious  child  was  carried  home  to  sleep  himself  sober.  Whether 
or  not  there  was  any  moral  deduced  from  this  occurrence  by  the  use  of  a 
switch  I  do  not  recollect,  but  probably  there  was,  for  it  was  not  customary 
then  to  spoil  the  child  by  sparing  the  rod.  I  have  ever  since  been  opposed 
to  the  use  of  whiskey  in  harvest,  and  that  little  indulgence  in  grog  has 
lasted  me  more  than  sixty  years,  as  I  have  never  been  carried  home  from 
that  day  to  this. 

Although  whiskey  was  so  liberally  used  in  those  old  days,  I  cannot  re 
collect  that  there  was  much  drunkenness.  Certainly  the  results  of  whiskey 
drinking  were  not  of  violent  character,  as  I  cannot  recall  any  murders  or 
serious  affrays  during  my  boyhood.  This  may  have  been  owing  to  the 
purity  of  the  liquor.  Fist-fights  were  expected  on  the  4th  of  July,  on  "  mus 
ter  day,"  when  the  militia  paraded,  and  at  elections,  but  no  deadly  weapons 
were  used,  and  the  combatants  were  usually  good  friends  again  when  sober. 
The  fights  grew  out  of  ambition  to  be  the  best  man  of  the  neighborhood, 
rather  than  animosity,  and  homicide  was  then  so  rare  that  a  single  murder 
would  convulse  with  horror  the  entire  commonwealth. 

Even  in  my  boyhood  the  question  came  up,  whether  harvesting  might 
be  done  without  whiskey,  and  the  notion  spread  that  it  was  worth  while  to 
try  the  experiment.  One  farmer  after  another  substituted  buttermilk, 
switchell  (water  with  molasses  in  it  and  a  dash  of  vinegar)  and  other  harm 
less  beverages.  That  was  before  the  day  of  the  "pledge,"  but  the  experi 
ment  succeeded. 

Farmers  of  the  present  day  may  wonder  how  the  crops  could  be  gathered 
without  improved  mowing  and  reaping  machines.  But  our  fields  were  not 
large,  and  I  think  there  was  never  any  hay  or  grain  lost  for  want  of  harvest 
hands  and  implements.  Many  mechanics  and  others  from  the  towns  took 
to  the  fields,  as  the  daily  wage  was  tempting  (even  if  paid  in  grain)  and 
they  liked  the  fun  and  jollity  of  the  harvest  season.  Everybody  knows  how 
wonderfully  harvest  machines  operate  now,  and  they  are  needed  on  the 
great  prairie  farms.  Dalrymple  could  hardly  save  his  wheat  on  that  big 
farm  in  Dakota  with  the  sickle  and  cradle,  but  he  might  use  the  heading 
machines,  described  by  Pliny  as  used  in  Gaul  at  the  date  of  the  Roman  con 
quest.  This  was  the  prototype  of  the  headers  used  in  California—only  in 
the  Gaul  machine  "  the  cart  went  before  the  horse,"  as  the  machine  was 
pushed  by  an  ox  in  shafts. 

Most  farmers  in  our  region,  as  in  other  parts  of  Pennsylvania,  had  barns 
large  enough  to  hold  all  their  hay  and  grain,  and  if  barn  room  was  short, 


46  NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

they  would  carefully  stack  it,  with  generally  a  thatch  cap  to  shield  it  from 
rains.  The  cap  rested  on  four  posts,  and  could  be  raised  up  as  the  stack 
grew  in  height.  Nothing  better  has  ever  been  contrived  for  out-door  stor 
age  of  grain  in  sheaf.  The  barns  all  had  plank  thrashing  floors,  on  which 
the  wheat  was  "  tramped  out "  by  horses,  and  many  a  weary  ride  round  and 
round  the  barn  floor  I  have  had  to  endure,  sometimes  nearly  frozen,  as  this 
work  was  mostly  done  in  the  winter  season  ;  but  boys  then  went  through 
such  experiences,  and  did  not  know  enough  to  complain.  It  was  an  igno 
rant  age,  and  we  did  not  recognize  hardship  even  when  undergoing  it.  I 
used  to  try  to  stand  up  on  the  horse,  like  the  men  in  the  circus,  but  could 
not  manage  it  well,  and  at  last  concluded  that  I  was  not  born  for  success  in 
*'  the  ring,"  nor  have  I  figured  to  advantage  in  any  "  ring  "  in  all  the  long 
years  since.  My  circus  pranks,  trying  sometimes  to  play  clown,  used  so  to 
disgust  our  trusty  old  farm  hand,  Hughy  Ramsey,  that  a  picture  of  his  face, 
with  its  wrinkled  expression  of  con  tempt  for  all  circuses  and  clown-imita 
tors,  would  beat  anything  Cruikshank  ever  designed. 

Instead  of  burning  our  wheat  straw,  as  western  farmers  do,  we  had  long 
racks  in  the  barnyard  filled  with  it  for  the  cattle  to  eat  at  will.  They 
thought  it  worth  eating  and  did  not  starve.  The  racks  were  generally 
made  of  rails  crossing  each  other,  resting  on  a  pole,  with  their  ends  in  the 
ground.  We  always  had  abundance  of  manure  to  haul  out  at  the  proper 
season. 

Rye  was  thrashed  with  flails,  now  gone  out  of  use,  and  the  straw  was 
often  used  for  thatching.  It  made  good  roofs  for  barns,  outhouses,  stack- 
caps  and  sheds.  Rye  straw  was  also  cut  short  and  mixed  wet  with  rye 
meal  (chopped  rye  we  called  it)  for  horse  feed  in  summer.  We  also  used 
oats  for  horses,  but  rarely  corn,  except  in  cold  weather,  and  then  fed  in  the 
ear.  We  had  a  notion  it  was  too  "  heating  "  for  summer  use. 

The  thrashing  machine  (invented  by  a  lawyer,  Menzies,  in  Scotland,  1750, 
and  run  by  water  power)  was  coming  into  use  in  central  Pennsylvania  more 
than  fifty  years  ago,  but  in  a  modest  way.  A  drum  or  cylinder  with  spikes 
sticking  out  "like  quills  upon  the  fretful  porcupine"  (as  Mr.  Shakspeare 
has  it)  revolving  in  a  case  also  having  spikes  in  it,  was  our  first  machine,  in 
wrhich  a  sheaf  at  a  time  could  be  fed.  It  was  driven  by  horse  power.  The 
straw  and  chaff  were  flung  out  on  the  barn  floor,  and  thrown  out  of  the  way 
by  men  with  forks  ;  and  the  winnowing  was  done  in  a  fan  mill  turned  by 
hand.  Whether  "  tramped  out,"  or  thrashed  by  the  machine,  we  were  very 
careful  in  cleaning  our  wheat,  as  it  was  a  matter  of  pride  to  have  it  weigh 
always  upwards  of  60  pounds  to  the  measured  bushel.  When  very  young, 
I  saw  a  primitive  horse-power  threshing  "machine" — a  conical  shaped  log 
from  the  largest  tree  to  be  had,  with  wooden  pegs  projecting  from  its  sur 
face  ;  the  small  end  held  by  a  ring  on  a  post  in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  and 
a  horse  at  the  large  end  to  pull  it  around  on  the  grain.  I  think  it  was  not 
patented,  but  while  I  could  not  point  out  the  farm  where  I  saw  this  rare 
machine,  I  can  show  the  pretty  little  vale  where  the  farm  is  situated.  An- 


NOTES   TAKEN   IX   SIXTY    FEARS.  47 

other  tmpatented  machine  of  those  days  was  a  revolving  hay-rake,  invented 
by  Mr.  John  Shaw,  an  intelligent  gentleman  in  the  neighborhood,  but  who, 
for  some  unknown  reason,  did  not  apply  for  a  patent.  It  was  constructed 
precisely  as  the  first  wooden  revolving  hay-rakes,  which  came  into  use  some 
years  later,  and  which  perhaps  yielded  some  one  a  fortune,  who  may  have 
seen  Mr.  Shaw's  rake  and  got  a  patent  on  it. 

Jethro  Wood's  cast  iron  plows  made  their  appearance  in  the  Juniata  val 
ley,  about  the  time  I  gave  up  school  and  went  regularly  to  work  on  the 
farm  ;  but  our  old-fashioned  plow,  with  its  iron  share,  edged  with  steel,  its 
"coulter"  of  the  same  metals,  and  its  wooden  or  cast-iron  moldboard,  was 
our  great  reliance,  especially  in  rough  ground  or  in  sod.  Thomas  Jefferson 
(a  gentleman  of  some  note  a  hundred  years  ago,  fated  to  be  much  spoken  of 
for  putting  in  shape  the  daily  talk  of  the  times  as  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  although  he  did  much  greater  things,  and  who  died  synchronously 
with  John  Adams  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  about  the  time  the  engineers  began 
to  survey  for  our  "canawl")  is  said  to  have  been  the  firs  tto  trace  mathema 
tically  the  curves  which  the  moldboard  of  a  plow  ought  to  have.  Perhaps 
he  was,  for  he  was  a  philosopher,  and  could  even  teach  the  stone-cutters  at 
work  on  his  pet,  the  University  of  Virginia,  how  to  handle  their  tools  and 
shape  the  material.  But  Arthur  Long,  who  made  plows  in  my  native  town, 
had  a  surer  way  of  getting  the  curves,  by  noting  where  the  moldboard 
clogged  or  scoured,  and  modifying  it  accordingly  till  perfectionjwas attained. 
This  was  science,  if  science  be,  as  once  said  Prof.  Swallow,  the  eminent  and 
unrewarded  geologist  of  Missouri,  "the  essence  of  human  experience."  But 
we  had  no  plows  fixed  to  ride  on ;  no  sulky  cultivators,  or  other  contrivances 
for  easy  tilling.  We  literally  followed  the  plow,  and  likewise  trudged  after 
the  harrow. 

Often  have  I  been  amused  of  late  years  by  discussions  in  agricultural 
papers  on  rotation  of  crops,  the  use  of  "plaster"  as  a  fertilizer,  the  benefit  of 
clover,  and  so  on  —  all  matters  of  course  in  my  native  county  when  I  was  a 
boy.  We  "rotated"  as  regularly  as  the  seasons  came  round;  we  had  our 
luxuriant  fields  of  clover,  and  the  estimation  in  which  plaster  (gypsum)  was 
held  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  it  was  brought  up  the  Juniata  river  in  keel- 
boats  pushed  by  poles,  long  before  the  canal  was  made.  We  farmed  better 
sixty  years  ago  than  the  people  in  some  parts  of  the  country  do  now ;  but 
there  is  no  use  in  telling  the  conceited  moderns  this,  as  they  would  not 
believe  it. 

One  old-time  custom  of  farm-life  is  happily,  for  the  youngsters,  at  least, 
known  no  longer.  Sole  and  upper  leather,  and  tanned  calfskin  (the  latter 
for  the  women's  shoes)  were  provided,  and  the  shoemaker  came  round  once 
a  year  to  make  up  our  foot-gear.  If  he  came  late,  woe  to  the  boys.  There 
was  no  help  for  us ;  but  if  the  farm-boy  nowadays  should  find  his  feet  in 
the  condition  ours  were  sometimes  in  as  the  cold  weather  got  ahead  of  the 
shoemaker,  the  pseudo-philanthropists  would  howl  over  him — and  he  would 
perhaps  howl,  too.  But  we  were  used  to  it. 


48  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

It  is  a  modern  belief  that  our  farm-life,  half  a  century  ago,  was  fearfully 
laborious.  As  we  kept  sheep  for  wool  as  well  as  for  mutton,  and  also  flax 
for  its  fibre,  and  were  not  yet  past  the  spinning-wheel  and  hand-loom  pe 
riod,  woman's  work  was  constant,  and  sometimes  tolerably  hard ;  but  it 
was  always  cheerfully  performed.  It  was  also  customary  in  Pennsylvania 
for  the  women  folks  to  do  the  milking,  as  the  Yankees  had  not  yet  set  the 
example  of  "  pailing  the  keows."  It  would  seem  as  if  the  old-time  women 
had  a  hard  life ;  but  women  now  give  a  great  deal  of  time  and  labor  to  things 
unknown  in  the  ancient  and  simpler  days  ;  and  I  think  our  old-time  women 
enjoyed,  perhaps,  as  much  leisure  as  their  rural  sisters  do  now.  The  men 
did  not  regard  farm-life  as  unduly  toilsome.  Among  the  boys  it  was  a  mat 
ter  of  ambition  to  turn  a  good  furrow,  and  among  the  men  to  mow  neatly 
and  cradle  skillfully,  and,  in  short,  to  do  all  their  work  well.  We  had  our 
aspirations  in  the  line  of  duty,  and  the  pride  in  our  calling  that  sweetens 
labor. 

We  had  our  pleasures,  too,  all  the  sweeter  for  the  usefulness  of  our  lives. 
We  went  to  "  meeting"  on  Sundays,  and  saw,  and  were  seen.  Each  young 
buck  was  proud  of  his  horse,  and  the  proudest  of  all  was  the  one  whose 
stirrup-leathers  were  the  longest  in  proportion  to  the  length  of  his  legs,  and 
who  could  ride  a  prancing  steed  with  only  the  toe  of  his  boot  on  the  stirrup- 
iron —  as  proud  as  a  fine  lady  at  Saratoga  with  a  long-tailed  gown.  In  fall 
and  winter  the  weekly  singing  schools,  the  merry  sleighing  parties,  and 
other  innocent  recreations,  were  joyous  enough  to  compensate  for  many  days 
of  toil.  The  "apple-butter  boilings,"  when  we  met  at  farm-houses,  pared 
and  cut  apples,  stirred  the  boiling  material  in  the  big  copper  kettle  hung  in 
the  wide  chimney,  and  played  plays,  and  got  chaste  kisses  from  the  pretty 
girls  —  what  could  unsophisticated  and  moral  youth  want  more? 

Among  the  rural  folks  there  was  less  caste  than  in  the  towns,  and  more 
social  equality.  The  divisions  were  rather  sectarian  than  social,  especially 
as  regarded  the  Dunkards,  who  kept  to  themselves,  speaking  the  Dutch  lan 
guage  dialectically,  and  making  everything  count  on  their  farms  ;  the  men 
with  hooks  and  eyes  on  their  coats  instead  of  buttons,  and  wearing  their 
beards  long,  though  shaving  the  upper  lip;  and  the  women  in  "  short- 
gowns  and  petticoats"  (jackets  to  the  waistand  blue  skirts),  with  white  caps 
on  their  heads  and  straw  bonnets  with  low  crowns,  and  the  broad  brims 
drawn  down  at  each  side :  a  most  worthy  people ;  not  given  to  lawsuits,  but 
helping  each  other,  and  never  in  the  poorhouse.  I  think  Joseph  Kocha- 
nour's  folks  in  Lancaster  county  were  Dunkards  ;  but  when  Joseph  moved 
his  family  to  Mifliin,  having  bought  a  farm  joining  ours,  he  had  laid  aside 
all  external  signs  of  the  peculiar  people,  and  was  "one  of  the  world's  men.'' 
We  neighbored  with  them,  and,  soon  after  their  arrival,  Mother,  having  one 
of  those  quilting  parties  so  much  enjoyed  by  farmers'  wives  and  daughters, 
I  was  sent  to  invite  Mrs.  Kochauour  to  come  over  and  spend  the  afternoon, 
and  get  acquainted  with  the  farmer-ladies  present.  I  did  not  see  Mrs.  K., 
but  on  my  return  was  very  proud  of  my  mimicry ;  for  when  I  repeated,  with 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  49 

proper  accent,  what  Joseph  had  said,  "I  not  dinks  she  goes  ofer ;  she's  too 
onhandy"!  and  all  the  quilters  went  off  into  ecstacies  of  laughter,  I  thought 
Mr.  Kochanour  must  be  the  funniest  man  alive,  and  myself  the  best  mimic ; 
and  I  began  to  think  myself  funny,  too,  when  I  sent  them  all  off  again  in 
another  peal  of  merriment  by  simply  saying,  "  If  she  don't  know  how  to 
quilt,  she  might  take  a  needle  and  thread,  and  learn!"  Never  a  quilting- 
frame  had  such  exuberant  hilarity  around  it ;  and  it  was  long  after  there 
had  been  an  increase  in  the  Kochanour  family  before  I  was  old  enough  to 
guess  how  the  fun  had  come  in,  and  why  Mr.  Kochanour's  odd  phrase  pro 
voked  so  much  laughter. 

In  November,  1833,  turned  of  16  (having  from  the  age  of  14  been  edging 
into  the  pleasures  of  adolescence),  I  was  at  an  apple- butter  party  on  the 
night  of  the  great  meteoric  shower,  when  thousands  of  stars  were  appa 
rently  darting  towards  the  earth  and  more  following.  We  were  all  badly 
scared.  The  world — that  seemed  so  good  and  nice,  when  possibly  doomed — 
might  be  coming  to  an  end,  for  all  we  knew.:  some  prayed,  and  others  (not 
in  good  practice)  earnestly  tried  to.  But  with  all  our  fright,  and  the  final 
day  of  earth  possibly  dawning,  we  still,  with  sublime  presence  of  mind  in 
the  midst  of  appalling  peril,  stirred  the  big  kettle,  and  did  not  lose  the 
apple-butter. 

The  display  of  "shooting-stars"  in  1833  was  the  most  remarkable  on 
record.  The  American  Journal  of  Science  gave  an  account  of  it,  but  it  has 
never  been  accounted  for.  The  meteors,  the  Journal  says,  "began  to  attract 
notice  by  their  frequency  as  early  as  9  o'clock  P.M.,  November  12,  the  exhi 
bition  being  strikingly  brilliant  about  11  o'clock  ;  but  most  splendid  of  all 
about  4  o'clock,  and  continued  with  little  intermission  till  darkness  merged 
into  daylight.  A  few  fire-balls  were  seen  even  after  the  sun  had  risen.  The 
entire  extent  of  the  exhibition  is  not  known,  but  it  covered  no  inconsidera 
ble  portion  of  the  earth's  surface.  Everywhere  in  the  United  States  the 
first  appearance  was  that  of  fireworks  of  the  most  imposing  grandeur,  cov 
ering  the  entire  vault  of  heaven  with  myriads  of  fire-balls  resembling  sky 
rockets.  On  a  more  attentive  inspection,  the  meteors  exhibited  three 
distinct  varieties :  the  first  consisting  of  phosphorescent  lines  apparently 
described  by  a  point ;  the  second,  of  large  fire-balls  that  at  intervals  darted 
along  the  sky,  leaving  numerous  trails,  which  occasionally  remained  in  view 
for  a  number  of  seconds,  and  in  some  cases  for  half  an  hour  or  more ;  the 
third,  of  undefined  luminous  bodies,  which  continued  stationary  for  a  long 
time.  The  meteors  all  seemed  to  emanate  from  one  and  the  same  point. 
They  set  out  at  different  distances  from  this  point,  and  proceeded  with  im 
mense  velocity." 

Many  more  particulars  are  given  in  the  Journal's  account  of  the  "  shoot 
ing  stars,"  but  I  have  given  enough  to  convey  some  idea  of  the  wonderful 
spectacle  which  we  rustics  were  fortunate  enough  to  witness.  No  wonder 
we  were  scared.  Nothing  equal  to  it  had  ever  been  seen  or  heard  of.  We 
could  not  possibly  know  what  it  meant,  and  I  do  not  know  yet ;  but  most 


50  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

if  not  all,  of  those  who  witnessed  it  when  I  did,  at  the  lone  farm-house  by 
the  side  of  the  turnpike,  where  they  now  dig  sand  out  of  the  ridge  and  carry 
it  two  miles  on  wire  ropes  to  the  railroad  for  the  use  of  glass-works  at  Pitts- 
burg,  are  gone  from  earth,  and  up  to  the  stars,  as  I  trust.  But,  I  repeat,  in 
the  midst  of  what  might  have  been  "  the  wreck  of  matter  and  the  crush  of 
worlds,"  we  saved  the  apple-butter,  and  I  look  back  to  the  saving  of  that 
apple-butter  as  a  heroic  achievement. 


THE  METEORIC  SHOWER  OF  1833. 

November's  evening,  calm  and  clear, 
No  token  gives  of  peril  near ; 
November's  night,  with  brilliant  sky— 
Her  stars  and  planets  fixed  on  high  — 
Tells  naught  of  changes  coming  on, 
With  strange  and  dread  phenomenon. 
And  jocund  youth  and  smiling  age 
In  sportive  toil  alert  engage ; 
With  nimble  fingers  deftly  pare 
The  aromatic  apples  there ; 
And  in  the  chimney's  wide  expanse 
The  bubbles  in  the  kettle  dance; 
While  turn  about,  as  chance  may  fall, 
We  stir  the  butter,  each  and  all. 
The  scene  is  joyous,  bright,  and  gay, 
As  lads  and  lasses  join  in  play. 

But  lo !  what  dire  portent  appears 
To  chill  our  hearts  with  sudden  fears— 
To  check  life's  current  in  the  vein  — 
To  paralyze  the  startled  brain? 

The  stars,  unfastened  from  on  high, 
Promiscuous  fall  from  out  the  sky, 
And  fiery  balls  terrific  roll 
From  zenith  off  to  either  pole. 
Some  wandering  Sun  in  upper  air 
Seems  shattered  into  pellets  there; 
Like  incandescent  hail  they  fall, 
And  doomed  is  our  terrestrial  ball. 

O  fearful  scene!     In  dire  dismay 

Some  pray,  and  others  try  to  pray  — 

As  if  a  jealous  God  we  please 

By  bending  unaccustomed  knees ;  — 

And  some,  in  trembling  accents,  say, 

"Can  this— can  this  — be  Judgment-day?" 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  51 

The  tardy  hours  of  fear  and  fright 
Wear  on  as  slowly  wanes  the  night ; 
And  still  the  fearsome,  fiery  shower 
New  terror  brings  from  hour  to  hour. 
With  myriad  burning  missiles  hurled, 
Lost !  lost !  this  unregenerate  world ! 

At  length,  0  joy !  the  night  is  past 

And  welcome  dawn  is  here  at  las,t. 

With  daylight  comes  new  courage,  where 

So  late  were  terror  and  despair. 

Like  spirits  only  bold  at  night, 

The  vagrant  stars  all  shun  the  light ; 

The  Sun  his  regal  sway  resumes, 

With  radiant  beam  the  day  illumes —  % 

Into  his  molten  breast  has  drawn 

The  meteors  all  that  fled  at  dawn. 


52  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

GOING  TO  MILL  LIKE  HENRY  CLAY— BULL'S  MILL— ROLLER  MILLS— ABRAHAM 
AND  ULYSSES — TOO  MODEST  —  WORK  AND  RECREATION  —  THE  SERPENT  IN 
THE  GARDEN, —  B.  FRANKLIN,  THE  PRINTER  —  AMBITION  PULSATES  —  THE 
OLD  GAZETTE  BOUGHT  —  OLD  TYPES  AND  OLD  PRESS,  LIKE  THOSE  OF 
FRANKLIN— INKING  BY  BALLS— INK  ROLLERS— THE  RAZOR,  A  FIRST  PUB- 
LICATION  —  AN  ORIGINAL  POEM  —  MAC  IVOR'S  POEM  —  FACT  HAS  OUTRUN 
FANCY— HENRY'S  COILS  AND  MAGNETS  — MORSE— AMATEUR  EDITING — HAR 
RISON  FOR  PRESIDENT — EDITOR  AND  PROPRIETOR — A  SPICY  SHEET — BACK 
WOODS  PAPERS  — THE  PENNY  PRESS  — ORGANS  AND  EDITORS  IN  OLD  TIMES 
—  SPECIAL  PAPERS  —  FIRST  RAILROAD  PAPER  IN  THE  WORLD  —  MORGAN'S 
COMMISSARY  —  ARMSTRONGS  AND  ELLIOTTS  —  INDEPENDENT  PAPERS  —  UN 
FOUNDED  ALARM  OF  THE  GOOD  MINISTER  —  LONGING  FOR  A  CHANGE  — 
GOOD  ADVICE,  BUT  HARD  TO  FOLLOW. 

Working  on  the  farm  I  was  useful,  especially  with  horses.  In  earlier 
days  I  had  gone  to  mill  with  a  bag  on  a  horse,  as  Henry  Clay  did  when  a 
boy  in  Virginia ;  for  which  exploit,  when  we  ran  him  unsuccessfully  for 
President,  we  bragged  of  him  as  the  "  mill-boy  of  the  Slashes";  but  when 
promoted  to  drive  two  horses  (neck-yokes  at  the  end  of  the  pole  and  check- 
lines  having  been  introduced  by  Yankee  immigrants),  I  took  several  bags  in 
a  wagon.  Dull's  mill  was  an  old  fashioned  affair,  driven  by  water ;  but  I 
think  our  bread  was  sweeter  than  any  now  made  with  patent  flour.  About 
the  time  I  began  to  go  to  mill  with  the  wagon,  the  plan  of  making  flour  with 
rollers  instead  of  stones  was  invented  in  Switzerland,  but  it  did  not  come 
into  prominence  till  1839,  when  roller  mills  were  built  at  Budapesth,  in 
Hungary.  Within  the  last  twenty  years  this  mode  of  reducing  wheat  to 
flour  has  been  adopted  in  American  mills  as  a  "new  process,"  and  patented, 
of  course ;  but  the  pretty  flour  produced  is  not  likely  to  leave  as  many  old 
men  and  women  sixty  years  hence  as  we  have  now. 

I  never  could  split  rails  as  Abraham  could,  nor  cut  cord-wood  like  Ulys 
ses  ;  but  I  hauled  wood  to  town  to  sell,  and  having  risen  a  peg  as  a  teamster 
I  had  a  better  team  than  Ulysses  when  he  hauled  wood  to  St.  Louis  from 
his  Gravois  clearing,  as  I  had  four  horses  and  he  had  only  two.  I  do  not 
wonder  that  he  gave  up  the  wood  business,  and  proposed  to  act  as  county 
surveyor.  I  only  wonder  at  the  stupidity  that  could  not  understand  or 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  53 

value  the  applicant.  But  Ulysses  was  himself  in  fault,  as  he  had  too  much 
modesty,  which  is  often  fatal  to  advancement.  In  view  of  the  positions  he 
has  since  occupied,  he  is  as  modest  and  unassuming  yet  as  he  needs  to  be. 

I  rather  enjoyed  some  kinds  of  work.  The  consciousness  of  achievement 
is  pleasurable,  and  my  days  went  by  not  unhappily.  There  was  abundant 
exercise  for  all  the  mind  I  had  in  the  details  of  farm  life  —  the  growth  and 
maturity  of  the  crops,  the  changes  of  the  seasons,  and  the  curious  pheno 
mena  of  the  weather  which  always  gave  us  rain  on  our  clover  hay.  What 
with  "gigging  fish"  at  night,  lighted  by  a  pine-knot  fire  on  the  canoe  ena 
bling  us  to  see  the  game  at  the  pebbly  bottom  of  the  river,  together  with  the 
diversions  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter,  and  trying  to  skate  in  win 
ter,  I  had  all  the  recreation  I  cared  for  ;  and  I  might  have  remained  on  the 
farm  as  an  "  honest  farmer,"  devoting  my  energies  to  agriculture  both  as  a 
science  and  an  art,  and  possibly  might  have  risen  to  be  a  Professor  in  some 
Agricultural  College  (supposing  a  practical  farmer  ever  to  get  into  such  a 
position),  if  I  had  not  unfortunately  read  the  life  of  Benjamin  Franklin. 

That  was  the  Serpent  in  the  Garden. 

I  did  not  much  relish  Franklin's  maxims  about  money-getting,  so  attrac 
tively  set  forth  in  his  Poor  Richard's  Almanac,  as  I  thought  them  rather 
sordid  and  mean,  our  folks  having  always  had  high  notions  of  generosity, 
liberality,  benevolence,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing,  so  much  more  praised  than 
practiced;  but  the  important  and  suggestive  fact  was,  that  B.  Franklin, 
starting  in  life  A  PRINTER,  had  become  a  distinguished  man.  The  fever  of 
ambition  began  to  pulsate :  I  must  be  a  printer  too,  and  achieve  distinction ! 
I  knew  that  there  had  been  hundreds  and  thousands  of  printers,  from  Gut- 
tenberg  down,  my  own  excellent  father  among  them,  and  but  one  Franklin; 
but  they  had  possibly  not  tried  hard  enough  to  equal  him,  and  might  have 
lacked  talent  and  ambition.  At  all  events,  a  printer  I  must  be,  and  father 
went  to  the  town  (his  own  birth-place  as  well  as  mine)  and  bought  the  old 
" Gazette,"  which  he  had  started  in  1811  and  sold  in  1814  ;  so  that  after  an 
interval  of  nineteen  years  he  again  became  its  owner,  in  order  that  I  might 
learn  "  the  art,  trade  and  mystery"  (as  the  old  Indentures  of  Apprentices 
termed  it)  of  printing. 

Writing  this  for  printers,  let  me  say  that  the  Gazette  office  would  not 
rank  high  now-a-days :  old  and  worn  types,  and  an  old  Ramage  press, 
mostly  of  wood,  with  a  stone  bed,  a  screw  to  send  down  the  wooden  platen, 
and  requiring  two  pulls  of  the  "  devil 's-tail"  to  print  one  side  of  the  little 
paper.  Very  primitive,  indeed,  that  old  press ;  but  I  reflected  that  it  was 
as  good  a  press  as  ever  Franklin  had.  When  very  young  I  had  seen  the 
types  inked  by  beating  them  with  two  balls  or  cushions  on  handles,  as  in 
Franklin's  day,  and  had  admired  the  dexterity  displayed  in  handling  the 
balls,  the  inker  having  his  ambition  to  excel,  like  anybody  else ;  but  the  "art 
preservative  of  all  arts,"  as  we  used  to  fondly  style  it,  had  so  for  progressed 
in  1833,  that  the  ink  was  put  on  with  a  roller  made  of  glue  and  molasses, 
melted  together  and  molded  round  a  core  of  wood.  Inking  the  types  with  a 


54  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

roller  was  about  the  only  change  in  the  art  as  known  in  our  Gazette  office 
since  Franklin  had  given  it  up,  except  that  the  use  of  the  long  s  had  been 
discontinued.  Printing-presses  to  be  run  by  steam  were  coming  into  use  in 
cities,  but  muscular  power  sufficed  in  the  villages. 

Father  was  editor,  residing  on  the  farm,  three  miles  up  the  valley.  I 
began  at  once  to  set  type,  and,  like  Franklin,  drank  only  cold  water.  I  also 
determined  to  imitate  him  in  setting  up  something  "out  of  my  head"  as  soon 
as  possible.  I  tried  to  think  out  something  "original,"  but  nothing  pre 
sented  itself,  and  I  decided  to  turn  into  verse  a  funny  thing  I  had  seen  in  the 
Almanac.  A  little  piece  had  amused  me  in  prose,  as  the  funny  things  in  the 
Almanac  always  did,  and  I  thought  it  would  look  well  as  poetry.  So  I  set 
it  up  in  type,  and  here  it  is — my  first  publication : 

THE  RAZOR. 

"Say,  Johnny,  where's  my  razor  now? 

I  want  it  here  to  use  it." 
"I've  had  it  openin'  oysters,  Dad." 

"You  rascal — did  you  'buse  it?" 
"No!"  —  " Rub  it  on  a  brickbat  then, 

And  what  I  tell  you,  mind  it  — 
If  you  ever  use  it  so  again, 

I'm  blowed  if  you  sha'n't  grind  it ! " 

Happy  the  time  of  life  when  a  thing  like  this  can  amuse ;  but  few  writers 
can  present  a  first  publication  so  brief,  so  dramatic,  and  without  a  waste 
word ;  an  epic  with  all  the  unities,  and  the  climax  at  the  close.  In  this  effort 
I  went  beyond  Franklin,  who  wrote  out  his  first  verses  with  a  pen ;  and 
when  one  or  two  of  our  exchanges  came  in  with  my  piece  copied,  I  felt  all 
the  warm  and  delightful  glow  of  successful  authorship !  True,  Sir  James 
Mackintosh,  in  his  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  says,  "  the  greatest  facility  of 
versification  may  exist  without  a  spark  of  genius";  but  I  had  not  then  read 
Mackintosh,  and  thought  my  verses  a  little  uncommon,  as  I  still  think  they 
were.  But  paraphrasing  did  not  satisfy,  and  I  soon  after  set  up  in  type  a 
poem  entirely  original,  as  the  intelligent  reader  would  acknowledge  if  I 
could  give  it  in  full.  It  had  four  verses,  but  I  can  only  recall  the  first  two 
lines  and  the  title  —  On  Time : 

UO  Time!  why  dost  thou  hasten  on, 
And  still  pursue  thy  trackless  way?" 

A  posing  question,  to  be  sure ;  but  Ivan  Maclvor,  the  jour,  printer  (who 
played  the  key-bugle  of  evenings),  disputed  the  assumption  that  Time 
"  hastens,"  and  said  it  was  going  at  the  same  old  pace  it  had  started  with  ; 
or  at  least  since  the  day  of  Ptolemy  there  had  been  no  change ;  and  he  also 
denied  the  "trackless  way,"  for  "the  way  of  Time,"  he  insisted,  "can  be 
followed  by  the  wrecks,  like  the  caravan-way  across  the  African  desert, 
marked  by  the  bones  of  perished  animals."  What  a  savage  critic  he  was! 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  55 

But  if  all  young  writers  should  be  handled  as  severely  as  Ivan  handled  me, 
few  would  dare  to  write  at  all.  To  show  rne  how  to  write  usefully  he  set  up 
a  poem  of  his  own,  of  which  I  remember  four  lines : 

"An  hundred  years  hence  what  a  change  will  be  made 
In  politics,  morals,  religion,  and  trade! 
In  statesmen  who  wrangle,  or  ride  on  the  fence, 
How  things  will  be  altered  an  hundred  years  hence ! " 

Half  of  the  hundred  years  (lacking  less  than  one)  are  gone,  and  the 
changes  are  greater  than  even  the  Scotch  fancy  of  Maclvor  could  have  pic 
tured.  They  will  be  still  greater  in  the  last  half  of  the  term.  We  cannot 
forecast  them,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  past ;  for  nobody  fifty  years  ago, 
however  expansive  his  imagination,  had  any  adequate  conception  of  the 
future  then  impending.  Possibly  some  cosmical  influences,  of  which  we  are 
unconscious,  have  been  operating  on  the  human  mind  to  stimulate  the  rapid 
advancement  in  all  arts  and  sciences,  except  the  art  and  science  of  being 
good  and  happy.  As  to  extra-mundane  agencies,  let  some  philosopher  trace 
if  he  can  the  connection  between  the  meteoric  phenomena  of  1833  and  the 
development  of  electro-magnetism,  basing  his  inquiries  on  the  fact,  that 
about  the  time  of  the  great  display  of  "shooting  stars"  Professor  Joseph 
Henry  was  bringing  to  perfection  his  electro-magnetic  discoveries,  with 
his  wire-coils  and  magnets,  which  enabled  Professor  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse  to 
bring  into  use  the  " Electro-magnetic  Telegraph"!  The  master-minds  of 
both  these  men  were  for  years  working  towards  the  same  result,  and  the 
name  of  Henry  should  ever  be  associated  with  that  of  Morse. 

At  harvest  time  Father  said  he  would  stay  at  home,  and  we  could  drop 
one  number  of  the  Gazette ;  but  I  got  up  the  types  for  all  that,  and  he  wrote 
a  paragraph  of  excuse  for  lack  of  editorial.  I  sent  him  proofs  and  he  let  me 
issue  the  paper.  I  had  set  up  a  communication  assailing  several  politicians 
of  the  Democratic  party,  and  commenting  roughly  on  some  local  occur 
rences.  He  supposed  it  to  have  been  handed  in  by  some  partisan  of  our  side, 
and  while  he  thought  it  too  bitter  and  personal  for  good  taste,  concluded  to 
let  it  appear.  It  raised  a  hubbub,  and  everybody  wanted  to  know  who  had 
written  it,  but  could  not  find  out.  It  was  generally  credited  to  James  T. 
Hale,  a  young  lawyer  of  fine  abilities,  afterwards  in  Congress.  The  sensa 
tion  created  was  immensely  flattering  to  me,  as  well  as  the  supposition  that 
Lawyer  Hale  had  written  the  article  which  I  had  in  the  Franklin  manner 
"set  up  in  type  out  of  my  own  head."  Never  have  I  had  anything  in  print 
that  gave  me  more  pleasure ;  but  why  Franklin  should  have  bragged  of  set 
ting  up  his  ideas  in  type  without  first  writing  them  down  I  am  at  a  loss  to 
imagine,  as  thought  can  as  safely  be  put  into  words  at  the  printer's  case  as 
at  the  desk. 

During  the  winter  of  1834-5  Henry  K.  Strong,  editor  of  the  Intelligencer 
at  Harrisburg,  was  warmly  urging  the  selection  of  General  William  Henry 
Harrison  as  the  best  Whig  candidate  for  the  Presidency ;  but  few  or  no  • 


56  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

papers  were  then  joining  with  him.  I  wanted  Father  to  come  out  in  the 
Gazette  for  Harrison,  but  he  was  too  cautious,  although,  having  been  him 
self  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  he  had  a  high  opinion  of  the  General. 
Finally,  in  May,  1835,  while  the  editor  was  corn-planting,  I  got  up  an  edi 
torial,  a  column  long,  taking  ground  for  Harrison,  and  carried  the  proofs 
out  to  the  farm.  He  hesitated  — feared  that  it  might  not  be  prudent  just 
yet  —  but  would  be  in  early  next  day  and  consult  party  friends.  I  walked 
demurely  back  to  the  office,  and  by  breakfast  next  morning  had  the  paper 
on  the  streets.  Our  party  friends  were  all  pleased,  and  when  my  good  father 
got  to  town  he  was  warmly  congratulated  on  the  step  he  had  taken,  but 
he  never  once  told  how  he  had  taken  it.  After  the  Gazette  had  come  out, 
papers  in  all  parts  of  the  State,  and  in  other  States,  gave  their  voices  for 
Harrison,  and  four  years  later  he  was  nominated.  Human  events  are  so 
varied  and  complicated  that  effects  cannot  sometimes  be  with  certainty 
traced  back  to  their  causes,  and  hence,  while  my  editorial  in  the  Gazette 
may  have  caused  the  nomination  of  Harrison,  it  would  be  impossible  at 
this  date  to  prove  the  fact,  but  I  am  sure  no  one  can  prove  that  it  did  NOT 
effect  it. 

My  editorial  interferences,  and  my  general  "perversity,"  as  my  good  and 
indulgent  father  called  it,  began  to  be  too  much  for  him  to  endure,  and  in 
August,  1835,  he  gave  me  the  paper.  I  was  eighteen  years  old,  and  when 
my  full  name  was  printed  at  the  head  of  the  Gazette  as  "Editor  and  Pro 
prietor,"  it  seemed  rather  strange  that  the  world  had  got  along  so  far  with 
out  much  aid  from  me,  which  it  would  surely  need  in  the  future.  It  was  the 
only  time  in  my  life  that  I  exercised  much  power  of  imagination,  and  I  fan 
cied  myself  a  much  more  important  personage  than  I  really  was. 

The  Gazette  was  a  small  affair,  and  I  could  only  raise  money  for  a  couple 
of  bundles  of  paper  at  a  time,  enough  for  one  issue,  but  these  I  brought  from 
the  warehouse  on  a  wheel-barrow,  just  as  Franklin  used  to  wheel  his  paper 
in  Philadelphia,  to  show  that  he  was  a  hard  worker  and  not  above  his  busi 
ness.  I  had  never  told  anyone  that  Franklin  was  my  model ;  but  Mr.  Frank 
McCoy,  the  genial  proprietor  of  the  warehouse — one  of  those  quiet  but  know 
ing  men  who  see  into  things — would  say  very  pleasantly  as  I  moved  off 
with  my  wheel-barrow,  "  Go  ahead,  my  boy  ;  that's  the  way  Dr.  Franklin 
did.  Never  forget  Dr.  Franklin  !"  And  I  never  did  forget  him. 

Eighteen  years  old  and  an  editor  —  helping  to  shape  the  destinies !  It 
was  grand  to  be  so  early  in  life  one  of  the  arbiters  of  the  world's  fate.  But 
when  once  sounding  my  trumpet  a  little  at  home,  I  was  cooled  down  by  the 
remark  of  Father,  "Nonsense!  I  was  only  eighteen  when  I  started  the 
paper  in  1811."  As  I  write  this,  he  still  reads  the  weekly  issue  of  the  Ga 
zette,  in  his  ninety-first  year  —  the  oldest  man  on  the  continent  to  read  a 
paper  founded  by  himself,  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago. 

Considering  my  imperfect  education  and  deplorable  ignorance  of  almost 
everything  the  humblest  editor  of  a  village  journal  ought  to  know,  I  got 
along  tolerably  well  with  the  newspaper.  The  few  patrons  were,  I  suppose, 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  57 

easily  satisfied,  and  I  heard  no  complaints.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  the 
general  opinion  that  I  got  out  quite  a  spicy  sheet,  and  the  way  the  Gazette 
bandied  epithets  (and  what  Father,  who  was  always  a  gentleman,  styled 
blackguardism)  with  the  rival  paper  of  the  town,  elicited  genuine  admira 
tion.  Very  paltry  it  all  looks  now  in  the  retrospect,  yet  it  is  some  consola 
tion  to  remember  that  the  Gazette  was  about  on  the  level  of  other  ''country 
papers"  in  Pennsylvania  at  the  time. 

It  is  not  very  creditable  to  the  old  Commonwealth  that  in  those  days  the 
newspapers  in  the  States  westward,  the  "back-woods,"  were  as  a  rule 
larger,  better  printed,  and  better  edited  than  the  Pennsylvania  papers,  out 
side  of  Philadelphia  and  Pittsburgh.  I  can  only  account  for  this  by  suppos 
ing  that  most  of  the  active,  intelligent  and  enterprising  young  men  had  gone 
west,  or  that  the  western  people  were  more  liberal  in  the  support  given  to 
their  papers  than  the  people  of  Pennsylvania. 

THE  PRESS  generally  has  greatly  improved  in  the  last  fifty  years,  not 
only  in  mechanical  execution  and  multitudinous  issues,  but  also  in  wrhat 
may  be  regarded  as  its  morale.  The  tone  is  higher.  There  A  less  personal 
abuse  ;  less  vituperation,  detraction  and  calumny.  Vile  enough  many  pa 
pers  are  yet,  no  doubt,  but  for  genuine  blackguardism — to  use  Father's 
favorite  term — the  papers  about  the  time  of  my  accession  to  the  editorial 
chair  are  entitled  to  the  stakes.  I  refer  only  to  the  editorial  tone.  So  far  as 
"news  "  and  varieties  of  crime  are  concerned,  the  papers  of  the  early  days 
were  spotless  compared  with  those  of  the  present.  The  year  1835,  in  which 
I  became  an  editor,  is  notable  as  that  in  which  the  u  penny  papers  "  in  New 
York  first  began  to  compete  successfully  with  the  "  six-penny  dailies,"  as 
the  Courier  &  Enquirer,  Journal  of  Commerce,  and  other  large  papers  were 
styled.  The  New  York  Sun  and  New  York  Herald  both  date  from  that 
year.  James  Gordon  Bennett,  Senior,  was  a  man  of  rare  qualities  for  the 
work  he  undertook,  and  all  the  power  of  the  big  dailies  could  not  put  him 
down  or  squelch  his  Herald.  He  may  be  regarded  as  the  founder  of  cheap 
daily  papers,  but  he  never  played  polo,  or  got  fuddled. 

The  great  papers  fifty  years  ago  were  journals  of  OPINION  as  well  as  fact. 
We  have  no  such  journals  now  ;  no  PARTY  ORGAN  leading  or  driving  the 
democrats  or  republicans.  Then  the  Washington  City  Globe,  Richmond 
Enquirer,  Richmond  Whig,  New  York  Courier  &  Enquirer,  Boston  Post, 
Boston  Atlas,  Albany  Argus  and  Albany  Evening  Journal  dictated  opin 
ions  and  policy  to  their  respective  parties.  The  National  Intelligencer  at 
Washington,  always  courteous  and  dignified,  had  a  circle  of  readers  who 
thought  only  as  the  editors  told  them  to  think.  Gales  &  Seaton  and  Fran 
cis  P.  Blair  at  Washington,  Thomas  Ritchie  and  James  H.  Pleasants  at 
Richmond,  James  Watson  Webb  at  New  York,  Thurlow  Weed  at  Albany, 
and  Charles  Green  and  Charles  Buckingham  at  Boston,  and  even  Isaac  Hill 
with  the  New  Hampshire  Patriot  at  Concord,  and  Gideon  Welles,  with  his 
Hartford  Times,  were  all  noted  men,  and  each  had  more  power  over  the 


58  NOTE£  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEAKS. 

public  mind  than  any  individual  editor  now.  Horace  Greeley  in  later  years 
secured  an  immense  circulation  for  the  New  York  Tribune,  but  as  an  indi 
vidual  was  regarded  rather  with  affection  and  esteem  than  deference. 

The  special  papers,  devoted  to  separate  branches  of  manufactures  or  com 
merce,  to  medicine,  law,  mining,  milling,  the  drug  trade,  hardware,  stoves, 
and  so  on,  have  almost  entirely  grown  up  in  the  last  fifty  years.  Bick- 
nell's  Reporter  and  Counterfeit  Detector  was  an  old-time  financial  paper, 
not  much  needed  now  to  describe  counterfeit  notes.  Hunt's  Magazine, 
edited  by  Freeman  Hunt,  an  able  monthly  publication,  used  to  tell  us  all 
about  great  commercial  and  financial  questions.  But  after  Bennett  began 
his  financial  articles  in  the  Herald,  other  dailies  followed,  and  people  could 
not  wait  for  weekly  or  monthly  issues.  The  Public,  edited  by  W.  M.  Gros- 
venor  at  New  York,  now  undertakes,  I  believe,  to  treat  comprehensively  of 
commerce  and  finance.  But  individual  bankers,  merchants,  manufacturers, 
railroad  managers,  and  speculators  of  all  kinds,  now  assume  to  do  a  great 
deal  of  their  own  thinking,  and  value  journals  for  facts  rather  than  for  sug 
gestions  and  opinions.  The  "  editor  "  is  fast  becoming  a  caterer  rather  than 
a  counselor. 

It  is  a  queer  and  generally  unknown  fact,  that  the  first  railroad  journal 
ever  issued  was  published  at  Rogers ville,  Tennessee,  1830-31.  Clinton  Arm 
strong  was  then  publishing  a  religious  monthly  magazine,  of  Calvanistic 
character,  and  in  addition  issued  weekly  for  one  year  the  Railroad  Advo 
cate,  telling  its  readers  all  about  railroads,  so  far  as  then  known,  and  urging 
their  construction.  John  A.  McKinney,  of  Rogersville,  was  a  believer  in 
rapid  transit  by  rail,  and  in  an  address,  published  in  Mr.  Armstrong's  Ad 
vocate,  told  the  folks  in  butternut  jeans,  that  if  they  had  a  railroad  a  man 
might  breakfast  in  Knoxville  and  dine  in  Abingdon  !  In  1845  Clinton  Ann- 
strong  removed  to  St.  Louis  county,  Missouri,  to  the  well-known  homestead 
of  the  family  near  Kirkwood,  where  his  sons  yet  reside.  My  brother,  Major 
Wm.  P.  Elliott,  who,  as  Commissary  of  Gen.  Morgan,  once  paid  a  hasty  visit 
to  some  points  in  Ohio,  and  was  for  several  months  hospitably  entertained 
in  one  of  the  State  edifices  at  Columbus,  and  afterwards  in  a  National  man 
sion  called  Fort  Delaware,  some  ten  years  ago  was  a  railroad  magnate  and 
operated  the  Rogersville  and  Jefferson  road  in  Tennessee.  He  never  recov 
ered  from  disease  contracted  at  Fort  Delaware,  and  was  summoned  to  his  rest 
in  1878,  lamented  by  all  who  had  ever  known  him.  He  was  a  man  of  pecu 
liar  ability,  and  with  a  memory  so  retentive,  that,  having  once  lost  a  batch 
of  his  accounts  as  Commissary  covering  several  months,  he  was  able  to 
make  duplicates  embracing  every  item.  In  youth  he  spent  some  time  in  a 
drug  store  at  Utica,  New  York,  where,  as  he  once  told  me,  he  paid  $2.50  to 
Roscoe  Conkling  for  legal  services,  the  first  fee  R.  C.  ever  received !  Fancy 
the  elegant  and  dignified  ex-Senator  taking  a  $2.50  fee  now !  Clinton  Arm 
strong  was  no  doubt  a  descendant  of  the  Armstrongs,  neighbors  of  the  El 
liotts,  on  the  Scottish  border,  a  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  years  ago; 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  59 

and  possibly  his  ancestors  and  mine  may  in  unruly  times  have  jointly  looked 
after  the  "dumb,  driven  cattle"  of  their  southron  neighbors.  .They  had  a 
pretty  name  for  the  trade — "  cattle-lifting." 

The  great  dailies  of  the  cities  care  no  longer  to  be  party  organs.  They  are 
too  independent.  Forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  anyone  with  a  few  hundreds  or  a 
few  thousands  could  start  a  newspaper,  could  run  it  at  small  cost,  and  might 
imagine  himself  an  Atlas  with  a  little  world  of  his  own  to  hold  up.  Few  or 
no  reporters  were  needed,  and  there  were  no  telegraph  outlays.  Now  it 
takes  hundreds  of  thousands  to  establish  a  daily  paper  ;  its  current  outlays 
are  enormous  ;  and  it  either  loses  or  makes  an  immense  amount  of  money. 
When  well  on  its  feet,  it  cares  little  for  competition,  thinks  the  public  can 
not  do  without  it,  and  is  proud  of  its  freedom  from  party  shackles.  It  may 
even  be  insolent,  if  it  pleases,  in  its  treatment  of  its  own  party;  but  what 
can  the  party  do  ? 

I  remember  nothing  of  great  public  importance  as  occurring  while  I  pub 
lished  the  Gazette,  but  as  illustrating  the  religious  views  and  feelings  of 
that  day,  I  may  state  that  some  broad  claims  and  plans  of  extending  their 
church  had  been  put  forth  by  zealous  Roman  Catholics,  and  the  Protestant 
mind  in  some  quarters  had  taken  alarm.  Imagination,  no  doubt,  magnified 
the  danger  of  Romish  aggression.  A  series  of  articles  was  published  in  the 
Gazette,  from  the  pen  of  a  distinguished  Presbyterian  minister,  showing  con 
clusively  that  (in  his  opinion)  the  Roman  Catholics  were  surely  taking  this 
great  country,  and  in  a  few  years  would  rule  it  absolutely,  leaving  us  poor 
Protestants  hardly  the  coats  on  our  backs !  Among  other  fearful  things,  the 
readers  were  assured  that  the  Mississippi  Valley  was  the  chosen  scene  of  Ro 
mish  domination,  and  that  even  then,  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  if  a  wandering 
Protestant  happened  to  encounter  a  Catholic  Priest  in  the  street,  and  did  not 
at  once  take  off  his  hat,  it  would  be  unceremoniously  knocked  off,  and  very 
likely  his  head  get  a  thump  in  addition,  as  a  lesson  in  good  manners  and 
deference  to  the  Clergy.  The  minister  had  been  a  lawyer  of  renown,  but 
had  given  up  lucre  for  the  service  of  his  Divine  Master,  and  in  his  ably 
written  communications  expressed  the  sincere  convictions  of  himself  and 
thousands  of  others. 

Eight  years  after  I  was  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  and  met  a  Catholic  Priest 
on  the  sidewalk,  near  the  cathedral.  As  we  drew  near  to  each  other,  I 
took  off  my  hat  to  him,  and  the  Priest  took  off  his  hat  to  me!  I  have  never 
known  any  man  to  be  disturbed  for  not  taking  off  his  hat  on  a  like  occasion  ; 
and  now,  instead  of  any  religious  denomination  interfering  in  any  way  with 
the  freedom  of  others,  we  have  the  spectacle  of  avowed  unbelievers  holding 
their  infidel  meetings  undisturbed  ;  and  we  seem  to  have  all  the  liberty  in 
spiritual  matters  that  we  need  for  the  good  of  either  soul  or  body. 

The  Presbyterian  minister,  sincere  and  earnest  in  all  good  works,  exag 
gerated  the  danger  of  Romish  domination  and  the  lamentable  consequences 
to  ensue.  Nearly  fifty  full  years  have  gone,  and  yet  here  we  are,  not  domin 
ated  injuriously  by  anybody,  or,  to  all  appearance,  likely  to  be.  For  many 


60  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

years  a  son  of  the  good  minister  has  been  a  worthy  and  prominent  citizen  of 
St.  Louis,  largely  engaged  in  her  commerce,  and  with  a  proud  record  of 
beneficent  labors  in  great  enterprises.  Never  yet  came  his  hat  off,  except 
voluntarily,  as  a  gentleman's  hat  should,  to  a  Catholic  Priest  or  any  other 
Dominie ;  and  I  trust  that  he  will  agree  with  me,  that  if  this  great  country 
shall  survive  till  ruined  by  Romish  domination,  it  will  live  long  and  pros 
per.  But  the  views  and  fears  given  to  the  public  in  my  old  Gazette  were 
held  and  entertained  fifty  years  ago  by  many  good  and  honest  people,  sin 
cerely  anxious  for  the  religious  welfare  of  the  country.  Bigots  you  may 
consider  them,  but  they  were  also  earnest  patriots.  Always  anxious  for  the 
right,  they  would  have  been  glad  to  save  every  immortal  soul,  but,  like  all 
who  are  true  to  their  convictions,  would  have  preferred  to  save  them  pre 
cisely  as  they  were  saving  their  own. 

The  wretched  old  types  and  awkward  old  press  of  the  Gazette  (although 
a  connecting  link  with  Franklin)  were  a  constant  source  of  irritation  and 
unhappiness.  The  rival  establishment  had  a  newer  and  better  outfit,  and 
issued  a  better  looking  paper.  I  had  no  means  to  get  new  materials,  and 
hence  began  to  long  for  a  change.  "Put  plenty  of  brains  in  the  paper," 
Father  said,  "  and  itwill  look  well  enough,  no  matter  how  it's  printed";  but 
this  advice,  for  obvious  reasons,  was  hard  to  follow. 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  61 


CHAPTER   IX. 

CHANGE  OF  BASE  — THE  PATRIOT  BOUGHT  — A  PAPER  FOR  GOOD-NATURED 

PATRONS  —  QUEER  TURN  IN  FLOUR  TRADE  —  JACKSON  CENSURED  — 
BENTON'S  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION  — SOLITARY  AND  ALONE  — CARICA 
TURES  OF  THE  MISSOURI  SENATOR — CONSTITUTION  EXPOUNDED  —  THE 
QUAKERS — A  SHAD-BELLY  COAT  —  AN  UNREGENERATE  BOY  —  THE 
LITTLE  GATE  IN  JERUSALEM  —  BLUE  BLOOD  —  WORTHY  PEOPLE — AN 
UNHAPPY  EDITOR  — A  DREADFUL  DEBT— DECISION  TO  ABSCOND  — 
ODOR  OF  ECCENTRICITY. 

Thirty  miles  northward,  in  the  shiretown  of  an  adjoining  county,  a 
"  newspaper  office  "  was  for  sale,  with  a  full  assortment  of  good  type,  and  a 
Washington  press,  with  an  iron  bed  and  iron  platen,  and  by  toggle-joint 
pressure  printing  the  entire  side  of  the  "Patriot"  at  one  pull;  the  estab 
lishment  contrasting  most  advantageously  with  the  old  "Gazette,"  mere 
relic  as  the  latter  was  of  Franklin's  day.  By  the  stage,  winding  upward 
on  one  side  of  intervening  mountains  and  downward  on  the  other,  like 
a  miniature  of  the  famous  "grade"  in  California,  down  which  Hank 
whirled  Horace  Greeley,  I  made  the  journey  to  Bellefonte,  inspired  by 
novel  scenes,  and.  indulging  day-dreams  of  life  in  the  world  outside  of  my 
native  valley.  I  bought  the  concern.  The  price  was  one  thousand  dollars, 
all  on  credit,  as  the  paper  was  held  by  a  junto  of  politicians. 

"  A  prophet  is  not  without  honor  save  in  his  own  country,"  and  I  looked 
forward  to  a  career  of  success,  among  people  who  had  not  known  me  as  a 
boy  and  would  only  know  me  as  a  man.  I  expected  to  enjoy  that  better 
appreciation  among  strangers,  which  consoles  the  migrating  youth  for  affec 
tions  he  may  have  left  behind  him.  This  change  of  base  occurred  early  in 
1836.  I  worked  steadily  in  my  new  location  ;  discussed  current  topics  care 
fully;  wrote  for  the  paper  an  occasional  letter  from  Washington,  as  "our 
own  correspondent;"  printed  all  Judge  Burnside's  articles  on  the  Bald 
Eagle  Navigation;  tried  a  feeble  joke  once  in  a  while;  had  every  week  a 
very  original  poem  from  the  schoolmaster,  generally  in  very  blank  verse ; 
and  upon  the  whole,  got  out  a  paper  that  satisfied  the  good-natured  patrons, 
and  of  which  I  was  then  by  no  means  ashamed.  The  poems  of  the  school 
master  were  regarded  as  gems,  but  were  rather  lugubrious,  treating  of  sor- 


62  NOTES   TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

row,  disappointment,  affliction,  and  so  on,  all  of  which,  however,  his  vivid 
imagination  pictured  as  blessings  in  disguise. 

For  some  months  my  life  was  as  pleasant  as  I  perhaps  had  a  right  to 
expect.  Bellefoiite  was  noted  for  its  cultivated  society  as  well  as  for  the 
rare  charms  of  its  location  and  surroundings;  and  while  the  beauty  and 
magnificence  of  the  valley  and  mountain  scenery  delighted  the  eye  of  taste, 
the  heart  was  refreshed  by  the  sweet  communion  of  elegant  social  life.  The 
forty-six  years  which  have  fled  since  I  last  looked  on  the  decorous  town 
may  have  wrought  changes  in  its  home  life,  but  the  loveliness  of  the  land 
scape  and  the  sublimity  of  the  mountains  must  remain. 

A  little  reversal  of  foreign  trade,  which  occurred  in  1836,  may  be  worth 
noting.  So  great  was  the  scarcity  or  so  high  the  price  of  flour  in  the 
United  States,  that  supplies  were  imported.  This  was  about  as  queer  an 
occurrence  as  the  importation  of  potatoes  early  in  1882.  Prolonged  dry 
weather  in  1881  had  cut  short  the  potato  crop,  and  hence  the  importations ; 
but  I  do  not  remember  why  the  importation  of  flour  took  place  forty-six 
years  before.  It  may  have  been  caused  by  a  short  crop  of  wheat  the  year 
previous,  or  by  the  expanded  currency  of  state  banks  inflating  prices  in 
1836,  previous  to  the  collapse  of  1837. 

During  1836  a  prominent  topic  in  politics  was  the  "  expunging  resolu 
tion  "  in  the  Senate  at  Washington.  Some  time  previously  the  Senate  had 
passed  resolutions  censuring  President  Jackson  for  having  ordered  Roger 
B.  Taney,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  (1833),  to  cease  depositing  the 
government  moneys  in  the  old  United  States  Bank.  Senator  Ben  ton  subse 
quently  offered  a  resolution  to  expunge  the  resolutions  of  censure  from  the 
records  of  the  Senate,  and  he  persevered  till  his  resolution  was  finally 
passed  in  March,  1837,  and  "  black  lines  "  were  drawn  across  the  face  of  the 
Senate  journal.  It  was  in  urging  his  expunging  resolution  that  Benton 
used  the  phrase  so  often  quoted — "  Solitary  and  alone,  amidst  the  jeers  and 
taunts  of  my  enemies,  I  set  this  ball  in  motion,"  and  for  years  the  Whig 
humorists  thought  it  great  fun  to  put  the  Missouri  Senator  in  caricatures  as 
an  ill-odorous  insect  rolling  its  ball. 

The  Whigs  cried  aloud  against  "the  mutilation  of  the  record."  as  we 
called  it.  We  thought,  or  said,  that  the  expunging  action  presaged  dire 
calamities,  and  we  mourned  our  lost  native  land.  But  things  have  gone  on 
as  if  no  expunging  had  ever  occurred,  and  the  whole  matter  is  nearly  for 
gotten.  Even  Benton  himself  will,  I  suppose,  be  in  time  forgotten,  as  so 
many  other  strong  men  have  been,  and  must  be;  but  I  suppose  it  is  a  sort 
of  consolation  to  small  men  to  know  that  they  may  possibly  rank  with 
statesmen  at  last,  when  the  memory  of  them  all  will  be  "  dissipated  in  the 
cold  umbrage  of  oblivion." 

The  Senate,  I  think,  erred  in  undertaking  to  censure  President  Jackson. 
The  makers  of  the  Constitution  did  not  intend  that  one  branch  of  the  gov 
ernment  should  asperse  or  scold  at  another.  Once  begun,  such  action 
might  lead  to  interminable  squabbles— a  sort  of  prize  fight  between  the 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY    TEARS.  63 

President  and  the  Senate,  to  see  which  could  hit  hardest.  If  the  Presi 
dent  goes  wrong  the  remedy  is  in  impeachment,  and  not  in  any  spasmodic 
action  of  the  Senate.  But  Ben  ton's  expunging  resolution  was  unjustifiable. 
It  was  at  best  only  putting  the  opinions  of  one  set  of  Senators  against  that 
of  a  previous  set,  and  it  left  a  precedent  of  tampering  with  the  record  that 
might  become  pernicious.  By  a  simple  and  innocuous  resolution  the  Senate 
of  1836-7  could  have  expressed  its  dissent  from  the  action  of  the  censuring 
Senate,  and  this  is  in  effect  all  that  Benton's  expunging  resolution  did.  I 
have  here  put  in  a  few  words  the  gist  of  tli^e  arguments  on  both  sides  of  the 
censuring  and  expunging  questions,  wearily  debated  in  the  Senate.  All 
beyond  what  I  have  said  is  mere  amplification.  Yet,  while  I  can  compress 
a  dozen  speeches  into  a  few  lines,  I  have  never  been  a  Senator,  nor  even  a 
candidate  for  the  office. 

Several  families  of  Quakers  had  their  beautiful  homes  in  Bellefonte  when 
I  printed  the  "Patriot."  They  were  wealthy  ;  some  owned  iron  works  ;  all 
lived  serene  lives,  and  wore  shad-belly  coats.  I  esteemed  the  Quakers  very 
highly ;  I  thought  it  would  be  nice  to  be  like  them— or  at  least  to  have  a 
Quaker  coat.  So  I  had  one  made — a  very  serviceable  summer  coat,  of  brown 
Holland,  with  maroon  binding  and  claret-colored  buttons,  the  skirts  having 
the  orthodox  curve.  But  the  first  time  I  wore  it  (and  I  might  have  been 
guilty  of  something  a  great  deal  worse,  as  I  was  only  nineteen),  I  heard  an 
unregenerate  boy  in  the  street  calling  to  his  playmates  as  I  passed : 

"  Lookee  there,  boys  ! — there  goes  the  strange  bird  in  the  Almanac !" 

What  the  strange  bird  in  the  Almanac  was,  I  had  no  idea ;  but  I  laid 
aside  the  shad-belly  coat,  and  did  not  try  the  Quaker  costume  any  more. 
The  boy  may  have  come  to  a  bad  end  for  all  I  know. 

Yes— I  really  liked  the  Quakers.  They  were  kind,  hospitable,  and  I 
think  the  cheerfullest  and  politest  people  I  was  ever  among.  But,  then, 
they  were  all  well-to-do  or  rich,  and  I  have  a  theory  that  it  must  come  easy 
to  be  kind,  and  hospitable,  and  cheerful,  and  polite,  when  one  has  plenty  of 
money.  I  would  like  to  test  this  theory ;  for,  after  all,  the  decisions  of 
experience  are  safer  to  rely  on  than  mere  theory,  however  reasonable  it  may 
appear.  A  friend  assures  me  that  there  are  rich  folks  in  the  world  who  are 
neither  kind,  nor  hospitable,  nor  cheerful,  nor  polite; — who  are  not  even 
just.  These,  he  says,  are  the  ones  who  are  to  find  it  harder  to  get  into  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven  than  it  was  for  the  camel  to  get  through  the  little  gate 
at  Jerusalem  called  "the  eye  of  the  needle;"  but  oh,  Col.  Ingersoll ! — oh, 
Brother  Beecher ! — what  is  to  be  done  with  such,  if  you  deny  us  our  old- 
fashioned  place  of  punishment? 

There  were  in  Pennsylvania  long  ago  some  breeds  of  people  who  seemed 
to  justify  the  belief  in  "  blue  blood  ;"— families  in  which  talents  and  high 
principles  were  apparently  a  matter  of  course ; — a  kind  of  natural  aristoc 
racy,  respected  by  every  body,  and  in  their  manners  affable  without  appear 
ance  of  patronage,  and  polite  without  servility.  But  the  vicissitudes  of 
life  have  scattered  them ;  properties  have  been  divided  or  lost  through  mis- 


64  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

fortunes,  and  many  of  the  old  and  substantial  families  will  soon  be  only  a 
memory.  The  Millikens,  the  Potters,  the  Maclays,  the  Irvines,  the  Curtins, 
the  Halls,  the  Petrikens,  the  Harrisses,  the  Valentines,  and  many  others ; — 
who  will  know  in  a  few  years  that  they  ever  existed  ?  Who  is  left  to  remem 
ber  the  elder  Judge  Burnside,  irreproachable  as  a  man,  eminent  as  a  judge? 
Or  his  son  and  successor  as  judge,  James  Burnside,  worthy  of  his  lineage — 
who  perished  by  a  sad  accident  at  the  very  street  corner  where  long  years 
before  my  printing  .office  stood?  Andrew  Curtin,  whilom  Governor  of  the 
State,  whom  I  remember  as  the  graceful  and  lofty  young  man,  when  he  and 
James  Burnside,  his  compeer,  were  on  the  same  day,  1836,  admitted  to  the 
bar  (the  elder  Judge  Burnside  presiding),  must  be  an  old  man  now,  and 
has  doubtless  had  some  of  the  warnings  given  to  the  uxorious  Mr.  Dodson 
as  told  in  my  first  chapter.  And  James  and  Henry  Petriken,  in  sober  lore' 
or  caustic  wit,  or  genial  humor, — what  successors  have  they?  Well,  we 
must  pass  away.  If  we  should  all  stay,  this  world  would  become  too 
learned,  too  witty,  and  too  wise. 

Pleasant  as  the  town  was,  the  editor  of  the  Patriot  was  not  happy.  The 
business  was  not  prosperous,  and  as  the  winter  wore  away  I  seemed  to  be 
going  deeper  and  deeper  into  debt.  The  indebtedness  for  the  purchase  of 
the  paper  gave  me  no  concern,  as  the  vendors  did  not  wish  to  be  repaid 
preferring  to  hold  in  their  hands  the  means  of  controlling  the  journal  if 
necessary.  It  was  the  bill  for  paper  and  other  supplies  that  troubled  me. 

I  owed  Zekiud  &  Repplier  two  hundred  dollars!    This  debt  had  grown 
week  by  week,  and  grew  more  terrible  the  more  I  brooded  over  it.    I  could 
see  no  way  to  make  the  business  more  remunerative.    I  seemed  to  lack  the 
gift  that  would  enable  me  to  get  other  people's  cash  out  of  their  pockets  into 
mine;  for  alas!  while  our  family  has  always  been  held  to  have  in  it  no 
small  share  of  genius,  it  has  unfortunately  been  the  genius  for  distribution 
rather  than  acquisition. 

I  was  losing  hope  and  trust.  "  Oh,  the  twin  sisters  of  hopefulness  and 
trustfulness  ! "  says  Dr.  J.  G.  Holland,  in  the  story  of  Arthur  Bonnicastle— 

II  what  power  have  they  to  strengthen  weary  feet,  to  sweeten  sleep,  to  make 
the  earth  green  and  the  heaven  blue,  to  cheat  misfortune  of  its  bitterness, 
and   to  quench  even  the  poison  of  death  itself!"     Yes — hopefulness  and 
trustfulness !     The  man  born  with  these  has  an  enduring  patrimony  that 
he  cannot  fritter  away.    They  are  only  another  name  for  patience  self-con 
fidence,  faith  and  fortitude. 

The  dreadful  debt!  I  became  morbid — cowardly,  if  you  will.  It  was 
weakness  to  fret  over  possible  losses  of  creditors  that  might  never  occur. 
Doubtless  I  ought  to  have  had  courage  to  go  on  my  way,  and  let  others  take 
care  of  themselves.  This  is  the  safe  "  business  "  rule.  The  story  will  never 
be  stale  of  the  debtor  who  told  his  friend  he  had  spent  a  sleepless  night, 
walking  the  floor,  thinking  of  the  note  coming  due  that  he  could  not  pay  ; 
and  his  friend  replied — "You  (blank)  fool — let  the  holder  of  the  note  lose 
sleep  and  walk !"  But  I  was  not  created  for  this  philosophy.  As  to  eour- 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  65 

age  in  the  debtor,  it  is  the  child  of  hope  and  confidence,  and  I  lacked  these 
strengthening  cordials.  How  many  thousands  have  suffered  and  do  suffer, 
as  I  did,  under  imaginary  evils  greater  than  the  real  ones !  Some  try  to 
drown  their  cares  in  drink ;  some  try  the  sad  remedy  of  suicide ;  and  some 
abscond.  It  is  an  ugly  word  to  use,  but  truth  is  truth,  and  I  was  born  away 
back  so  near  the  time  of  George  Washington  that  I  can  only  be  truthful, 
and  must  tell  the  tale  truly :  I  determined  to  abscond  • 

Do  I  blush  to  write  this?    By  no  means.    I  rather  enjoy  the  confession 
of  an  error.    It  has  a  pleasing  odor  of  eccentricity  about  it. 


THE  NEWSPAPER  CARRIER. 

(St.  Louis  Democrat,  January  1,  1863.) 

Gliding  along  the  way, 

Like  the  shades  of  passing  Time, 
THE  CARRIER  comes,  in  dawning  gray, 

With  news  from  every  clime. 
Daily— from  land  and  sea! 

Herald— from  near  and  far! 
News  of  living  peace  hath  he, 

And  news  of  deadly  war. 

With  his  "  map  of  busy  life," 
Unroll'd  in  matin  hour — 

Its  lakes  of  vice  and  pools  of  strife, 
And  seas  of  mighty  power! 

Its  plains  of  virtue  fair- 
Its  mounts  of  goodly  love, 

Something  of  all  in  earth  or  air, 
Beneath  us,  or  above ! 

'  Tis  a  wondrous  map  he  bears — 

A  cosmographic  chart! 
Stored  with  worlds  of  costly  wares, 

In  science,  labor,  art! 
From  the  planets,  in  the  sky, 

To  the  stars  that  light  the  stage, 
He  brings  you,  as  he  passes  by, 

A  cosmos  in  a  page. 


66  NOTES  TAKEN  TN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER   X. 

COLLOQUY  WITH  MB.  LAKE  —  SHEETING  —  GOING  ON  THE  STAGE  — MR.  FAR- 
RELLY  AND  ASTHMA  —  POST  MORTEM  JUSTICE  TO  CREDITORS  —  ADVICE  TO 
YOUNG  MEN  WITH  NEWSPAPERS  —  AN  UNFOUNDED  ALARM  —  NO  FOND  TRUST 
ABUSED  —  MAJOR  COVERLY'S  LONG-BOW  —  JUDGE  BURNSIDE  SCOLDS  HIM  — 
THE  MAJOR'S  DEFENSE  — MY  FIRST  CIGAR  —  REMEDY  FOR  LOCKJAW— SEN 
ECA  OIL  — VIRTUE  OF  VOLCANIC  OIL  LINIMENT  — SWEETENIN'  ON  PANCAKES 
—  CHEAP  TRANSPORTATION  —  UNCONSCIOUS  OF  DESTINY —  PITTSBURG  A 
MAGNIFICENT  CITY  —  A  SPLENDID  STEAMBOAT  —  THE  LONE  STAR  OF  TEXAS — 
COLONEL  BEHRENBECK —  GLORIOUS  PROSPECTS  —  SYMPATHY  FOR  A  NICE 
HOTEL  CLERK  —  THREE  BITS  LEFT. 

Wm.  Lake  drove  the  Northwestern  stage  from  Bellefonte.  On  a  bright 
Monday  morning  in  March,  1837,  a  little  colloquy  took  place  between  Mr. 
Lake  and  myself  in  front  of  the  old  blue  limestone  hotel  of  Gen.  Evan 
Miles,  where  I  boarded. 

"Bill,  when  you  drive  round  just  look  into  the  hall,  if  you  please,  and 
bring  along  a  little  trunk  and  black  leather  valise  you'll  see  there." 

"  Goin'  to  skeete  ?"  inquired  Mr.  Lake,  and  I  replied  with  a  look  that  he 
seemed  to  understand. 

"  Gal?"  he  inquired  further. 

"No — it's  no  gal.    Other  things.    But  keep  quiet.    You'll  overtake  me." 

"  All  right— but  what  in  thunder  is  it  if  it  aint  a  gal  ?" 

"Hard  times." 

This  is  all  we  said.  I  sauntered  along,  and  when  I  had  passed  the  vil 
lage  of  Milesburg,  a  short  distance  down  the  creek,  Mr.  Lake  overtook  me 
and  reined  up  his  team  ;  giving  me  a  wink  to  signify  that  all  was  safe  so  far, 
as  he  seemed  to  chuckle  over  his  own  share  in  the  enterprise.  The  stage 
had  only  two  passengers;  gentlemen  who  had  come  in  on  the  Southern 
stage  Saturday  night,  and  rested  at  the  hotel  over  Sunday,  as  the  custom 
was;  for  the  world  was  not  in  a  hurry  then,  and  we  did  not  need  to  travel 
on  the  Sabbath  in  order  to  live.  One  of  the  travelers  was  John  Wilson 
Farrelly,  a  lawyer  of  Meadville,  who  suffered  from  asthma,  and  at  the  hotel 
had  surprised  good  Mother  Miles  very  much  by  sleeping  in  a  chair,  and 
smoking  cigars  in  waking  intervals. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  67 

Not  yet  had  the  sage  of  Chappaqua  uttered  his  immortal  exhortation — 
"  Go  west,  young-  man  " — yet  westward  I  was  going,  I  did  not  know  where, 
nor  care  a  great  deal — any  where  away  from  Zekind  &  Repplier  ! — though  it 
is  only  just  to  those  gentlemen  to  say  that  they  had  never  annoyed  me  with 
their  little  bill,  and  I  might  have  paid  a  goodly  share  of  it  in  printing  and 
advertising  if  I  had  been  wide  enough  awake  in  business  matters  ;  but  they 
are  all  probably  dead  now,  and  can  have  no  earthly  knowledge  of  this  post 
mortem  justice  to  their  forbearance. 

I  might  have  left  all  this  out,  but  I  prefer  to  tell  it,  as  I  write  for  youth 
as  well  as  age,  and  when  I  cannot  be  a  pattern  I  may  be  a  warning  ;  for  all 
young  men  with  newspapers  ought  to  be  advised  not  to  imitate  my  flight 
from  debt,  but  to  face  the  dragon,  and  dun  their  debtors  more  diligently 
than  I  did  mine.  Very  absurd  it  was  to  leave  as  I  did,  as  I  left  accounts 
largely  in  excess  of  what  I  owed,  and  by  perseverance  might  in  a  few 
months  have  paid  all  bills.  I  could  give  a  very  peculiar  and  good  reason  for 
my  dread  of  debt,  but  its  philosophy  might  be  too  deep  for  the  average 
reader,  and  I  dislike  to  puzzle  any  body. 

I  learned  afterwards  that  my  friend  Mr.  Lake  was  not  the  only  one  who 
thought  it  possible  that  the  better  sex  might  have  been  concerned  in  my 
sudden  departure.  On  learning  of  my  escapade,  my  fond  parents  were 
terribly  exercised,  and  feared  the  worst ;  but  when  my  good  father  hurried 
over  the  mountains  to  look  into  my  affairs  (although  told  on  the  way  at 
Coverly's  tavern  by  the  old  Major  that  it  was  "no  doubt  a  bad  case"),  he 
was  much  relieved  to  find  that  he  had  only  to  settle  the  debts  and  arrange 
the  bills  for  collection;  and  the  regret  expressed  over  my  silly  freak  by 
Judge  Burnside  and  other  people  of  high  degree  was  so  pleasing  to  him  that 
I  fear  he  did  not  denounce  my  conduct  as  heartily  as  it  deserved.  There 
had,  however,  been  nothing  worse  than  folly;  no  heart  was  left  aching 
because  of  wrong  from  me.  No  fond  trust  had  been  abused  ;  and  even  now 
the  reflection  that  no  confidence  had  been  betrayed  has  a  great  deal  more 
honey  than  gall  in  it. 

'Tis  pitiful,  sure,  the  victory 

The  strong  gains  o'er  the  weak ; 
And  1  wish  not  on  my  crest  to  see 

The  rose  from  a  blighted  cheek. 
I  envy  not  the  ruthless  man 

The  triumph  of  his  art, 
For  I'd  face  the  devil  rather  than 

The  ghost  of  a  broken  heart ! 

Major  Coverly's  ease  of  manner  might  have  suggested  a  probable  descent 
from  Sir  Roger  de  Coverly,  but  the  old  Knight  would  have  been  shocked  at 
the  long-bow  drawn  by  Mine  Host  of  the  capacious  inn  on  the  mountain 
side,  overlooking  the  attractive  landscape  of  Penn's  Valley.  When  a  Phila 
delphia  gentleman,  detained  an  hour  by  repairs  to  the  coach,  pointed  to 
Potter's  mills  and  inquired  what  those  large  buildings  were,  "My  mills," 


68  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

replied  the  Major ;  "  Potter  is  now  running  them  for  me."  Farm  after  farm 
in  the  valley  was  his,  but  occupied  at  present  by  Dr.  Wilson,  or  Sheriff 
Ward,  or  'Squire  M'Connachy,  or  some  one  else.  Mr.  Jacob  Lex,  the  Phila- 
delphian,  on  his  arrival  at  Bellefonte,  during  the  dinner  to  which  Judge 
Burnside  invited  him,  expressed  his  wonder  at  the  eccentricity  which  could 
induce  any  gentleman  of  such  immense  wealth  as  Major  Coverly  possessed 
to  keep  a  roadside  tavern ;  but  he  was  of  course  soon  set  right  by  the  indig 
nant  but  amused  jurist. 

"  The  infernal  old  braggart,"  said  the  Judge — "  he  ought  to  be  indicted ; 
but  we  have  no  statute  to  reach  him ;  and  the  common  law,  which  would 
punish  a  poor  woman  as  a  common  scold,  has  never  punished  a  man  as  a 
common  liar." 

On  the  Judge's  next  trip  over  the  mountain,  to  hold  court  at  Lewistown, 
he  had  no  sooner  reached  Coverly's  than  he  began  a  tirade  for  the  Major's 
edification,  denouncing  him  as  the  Munchausen  of  the  age,  and  declaring 
that  he  would  by  his  disreputable  habit  of  blowing  bring  Centre  county  into 
disgrace. 

"Now,  hold  on  Judge,  if  you  please,"  responded  the  Major — "don't  be 
a  tyrant  out  of  Court,  however  much  you  order  the  lawyers  around  in  it. 
Can't  you  let  a  man  be  rich  in  imagination  once  in  a  while  ?  I've  felt  better 
ever  since  I  owned  Potter's  Mills,  and  all  the  best  farms  in  the  valley,  just 
for  the  benfit  of  Mr.  Lex,  and  to  pass  the  time  pleasantly ;  and  if  you  knew, 
Judge,  how  much  good  it  does  poor  man  to  tell  a  harmless  lie,  I  don't  think 
you'd  make  such  an  unreasonable  fuss  about  it !  " 

Our  stage  soon  left  the  "turnpike"  and  entered  on  the  earthen  road 
towards  Erie.  The  ground  was  soft  with  the  March  thaw,  and  through 
valleys  and  over  hills  we  toiled,  day  and  night,  jaded  and  dull,  traversing 
varied  but  cheerless  landscapes,  till  we  at  length  reached  the  Allegheny 
river  "  fernenst "  the  town  of  Franklin.  I  recollect  but  little  of  the  journey, 
except  that  in  order  to  relieve  the  asthma,  Mr.  Farrelly  had  to  smoke  cigars 
almost  constantly  ;  and  that  I  had  one  of  those  personal  experiences  which 
can  never  be  repeated.  After  supper  one  evening,  at  a  wayside  inn,  forget- 
ing  Franklin's  thrifty  maxims,  I  bought  a  cigar  and  smoked  it,  while  the 
driver  was  hitching  up  his  team.  It  was  my  first  cigar,  and  must  have  been 
one  of  remarkable  potency ;  for  its  effects  were  so  powerful  that  I  did  not 
smoke  again  for  nearly  seven  years.  They  gathered  me  up,  limp  enough, 
and  carried  me  on,  when  the  motion  of  the  stage  soon  brought  the  natural 
relief,  and  the  intolerable  nausea  passed  off.  Cherishing  the  memory  of 
that  cigar,  and  of  my  own  relaxed  muscular  organization  while  under  its 
influence,  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  the  statement  that  a  wet  plug  of  tobacco 
placed  on  the  stomach  of  the  sufferer  is  an  efficient  remedy  for  lock-jaw,  and 
I  think  it  is  at  least  worth  a  trial. 

In  1837,  most  of  the  region  between  Bellefonte,  on  a  tributary  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna,  and  Franklin  on  the  Allegheny,  was  but  sparsely  peopled,  with 
few  common  roads  in  bad  condition,  and  no  railroads.  Valleys  and  hills, 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEAES.  69 

now  penetrated  by  railroads,  and  vocal  with  the  clangor  of  machinery,  were 
then  untamed  wilderness,  only  marked  by  the  path  of  the  hunter,  and  the 
trails  of  his  quadruped  game.  Nobody  had  "  struck  oil  "  then  in  western 
Pennsylvania;  though  petroleum  (called  "Seneca  Oil"  from  the  Indians 
who  had  their  homes  near  the  springs  in  New  York,  where  it  issued  from 
the  depths),  was  widely  known  and  valued  as  a  liniment  for  man  and  beast. 
The  Mexican  Mustang  Liniment  of  Dr.  A.  G.  Bragg,  and  the  Volcanic  Oil 
Liniment  of  Dr.  J.  H.  McLean — both  enterprising  citizens  of  St.  Louis,  and 
the  latter  yet  with  us— owed  their  virtue  to  ingredients  not  materially  dif 
ferent  from  the  old  time  Seneca  Oil,  and  hence  my  unbounded  faith  in  them, 
ever  justified  by  results.  In  truth,  one  of  these  liniments  had  merits  not 
generally  known.  My  friend  Dr.  McLean  used  to  present  me  occasionally 
with  a  bottle,  as  I  always  liked  to  have  it  in  the  house,  and  I  wondered 
why  it  disappeared  so  rapidly,  but  made  no  inquiries,  supposing  it  had 
evaporated,  or  that  the  neighbors  had  borrowed  our  bottle  instead  of  getting 
one  of  their  own.  At  length  the  mystery  was  explained.  A  varnisher  was 
putting  in  order  the  furniture  of  my  office  in  St.  Louis,  using  a  varnish  of 
his  own  preparation,  which  he  was  very  proud  of,  and  wanted  me  to  try. 
I  carried  the  bottle  home  and  arranged  to  have  the  contents  applied  to 
the  furniture.  A  fter  two  or  three  days  I  inquired  of  the  womankind  how 
they  liked  the  new  varnish.  "It  does  very  well,"  was  the  reply,  "but, 
really,  it's  hardly  as  good  as  the  liniment !"  If  any  one  wonders  how  it  is 
that  chairs  and  tables  that  I  got  from  Charles  Marlow  or  Geisel  &  Vogel, 
nearly  forty  years  ago,  are  yet  in  daily  service  with  sound  limbs  and  bodies, 
I  can  only  give  the  credit  to  careful  housekeeping,  and  the  free  use  of  Dr. 
McLean's  Volcanic  Oil  Liniment. 

When  our  stage  reached  the  Allegheny  river,  I  stopped  at  a  tavern  that 
I  can  only  recall  as  a  large  wooden  edifice  on  the  bluff,  commanding  a  view 
of  the  stream  and  valley  for  miles ;  but  I  have  a  distinct  memory  of  the 
plentiful  supper,  mainly  composed  of  bacon  and  pancakes.  An  earthenware 
bowl  on  the  table  had  in  it  something  that  looked  very  much  like  old-fash 
ioned  soft  soap,  and  as  I  began  to  do  justice  to  the  pancakes  with  a  travel 
er's  appetite,  wondering  what  the  contents  of  the  bowl  could  be.  the  hostess 
kmdly  inquired — 

"  Mister,  don't  you  never  take  no  sweetenin'  on  your  pancakes?" 

"Ma'am?" 

"  Looks  like  you  don't  seem  to  take  no  sweetenin'.  Thar's  a  plenty  of  it, 
and  more  in  the  camp." 

"  Oh,  yes— ah— yes— I  see;  this  is 

"'Lasses,  Mister.  Laws-a-massy,  don't  you  know  'lasses?  Sugar-tree 
'lasses,  better  nor  any  store  'lasses  you  ever  seen,  I  reckon.  Jest  you  try  ef 
they  aint !" 

And  then  and  there  I  had  my  first  taste  of  the  fresh  and  aromatic  syrup 
from  the  sugar  maple.  New  as  it  was  to  me,  it  went  delightfully  with  the 
pancakes,  and  it  enabled  me,  years  after,  to  comprehend  some  of  the  reasons 


70  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

why  the  Indians,  who  had  been  pushed  westward  so  far,  looked  so  wistfully 
back  to  their  old  homes  where  they  had  left  "the  graves  of  their  kindred  " 
— and  their  sugar  maples. 

My  purse  was  light,  but  the  river  was  before  me,  with  an  occasional  raft 
of  boards  and  shingles  floating  down  it.  I  knew  that  in  obedience  to  a  pro 
pitious  ordinance  of  nature  the  stream  ran  to  Pittsburgh,  and  it  seemed  to 
invite  me  to  that  point.  The  decision  was  obvious :  I  must  go  down  the 
river  on  a  raft.  It  was  a  cold  enough  journey,  but  \ve  tied  up  at  night,  and 
I  got  a  little  sleep  in  cabins  ashore,  after  the  jolly  raftsmen  were  done 
dancing.  I  was  on  waters  flowing  to  the  Mississippi  river ;  but  little  did  I 
then  think  that  I  should  ever  write  a  line  or  do  an  act  to  aid  in  deepening 
the  channel  at  its  mouth  !  True,  I  was  demonstrating,  in  practice,  my  esti 
mate  of  "  cheap  transportation,"  as  I  was  floating  free  on  the  raft ;  but  I  had 
no  thought  beyond,  and  if  any  Mother  Shipman  had  told  me  that  I  should 
ever  be  instrumental  in  enabling  Capt.  George  H.  Rea's  barge  line  to  sur 
vive  and  flourish,  and  carry  its  millions  of  bushels  of  grain  from  St.  Louis  to 
New  Orleans,  I  should  have  scouted  the  prophecy  !  No  more  did  James  B. 
Eads,  then  only  completing  his  seventeenth  year,  anticipate  his  diving-bell 
boats  and  ironclad  war  vessels  on  the  big  river,  his  stupendous  bridge  across 
it,  or  his  mastery  over  its  currents  and  shoals.  I  try  to  imagine  him — the 
modest,  earnest,  industrious  youth— patient  and  persistent  in  duty — all  un 
conscious  of  the  wonderful  intellectual  power  he  was  destined  to  exercise. 
Happy  order  it  is,  that  we  should  forget  so  much  of  our  past,  and  know  so 
little  of  our  future!  If  we  could  see  in  youth  the  big  things  we  are  to 
achieve  in  maturity,  who  could  bear  to  wait  all  those  years  to  get  at  them? 
It  is  hard  enough  to  have  at  last  done  them,  and  then  perhaps  be  left  with 
out  either  compensation  or  acknowledgment. 

Pittsburgh — what  a  magnificent  city  it  was !  The  first  large  place  I  had 
seen,  I  was  impressed  as  a  boy  is  apt  to  be  when  he  sees  a  big  town  for  the 
first  time,  its  long  streets  and  tall  buildings  contrasting  with  those  of  his 
home  village.  But  I  had  little  leisure  for  admiration,  as  an  empty  pocket 
admonished  me  to  be  stirring.  A  merchant  owed  me  a  small  account  for 
advertising,  and  my  gratification  at  his  prompt  payment  was  mingled  with 
the  reflection  that  if  the  debtors  of  the  Patriot  at  home  had  only  paid  as 
promptly  I  need  never  have  trembled  at  thought  of  Zekind  &  Repplier! 
For  months  I  had  forgotten  Franklin  as  a  model,  but  thought  of  him  again 
as  I  trod  the  boulder-paved  streets  of  the  "  Birmingham  of  America,"  as  the 
Pittsburghers  called  their  city ;  but  I  had  no  roll  of  bread  under  my  arm,  or 
I  might  have  been  as  fortunate  as  Benjamin  in  getting  employment. 

Strolling  about  Pittsburgh,  the  steamboats  at  the  wharf,  grander  than 
the  grandest  packets  on  our  canal  (but  with  no  captain  to  peer  Captain  Lib- 
hart)  attracted  my  attention ;  especially  one  large  new  boat,  the  most  impos 
ing  of  all,  "a  floating  palace,"  as  described  in  the  original  rhetoric  of  the 
city  papers,  and  distinguished  by  a  blue  silk  flag  floating  from  a  pole  fast 
ened  to  the  corner  of  the  pilot  house.  The  flag  had  a  single  silvery  star  on 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY   YEARS.  71 

it,  "  the  lone  star  of  Texas,"  then  claiming  to  be  an  independent  Republic. 
There  had  been  a  big  fight  the  year  before,  at  San  Jacinto,  where  the  Tex- 
ans  had  routed  the  Mexican  army  and  captured  Santa  Anna,  the  General- 
in-Chief;  but  Mexico  was  not  yet  entirely  satisfied  to  let  her  wayward 
province  go  in  peace,  and  there  might  be  more  fighting  for  all  any  one 
could  tell.  Hence  the  display  of  the  lone  star  flag,  and  I  learned  from  a 
printed  handbill  that  men  were  being  enrolled  as  emigrants  to  Texas.  The 
United  States  of  America  being  at  peace  with  Mexico,  they  could  not  go  as 
soldiers,  but  everybody  knew  they  could  fight  after  arrival  if  necessary. 

The  first  day  I  only  looked  at  the  flag,  and  made  inquiries  ;  but  not  yet 
having  secured  what  jour,  printers  call  a  "  situation,"  and  my  cash  running 
low  enough  to  warrant  me  a  member  of  the  craft  in  full  communion,  I  began 
to  think  of  emigrating  to  Texas ;  especially  as  the  emigrants  were  to  be 
carried  "  free,"  at  the  cost  cf  the  Texas  government.  Next  morning  I  went 
on  board  the  "Constellation,"  as  the  boat  was  called  (although  the  only 
star  about  her  was  the  single  one  on  the  flag) ,  and  was  charmed  by  the 
splendor  of  her  long  cabin,  with  its  rich  carpets,  its  grand  piano,  and  the 
ground-glass  doors  of  the  staterooms,  which  let  in  the  light  but  not  the 
vision.  It  would,  I  justly  thought,  be  delightful  to  sail  down  to  New  Or 
leans  on  this  magnificent  steamer,  with  waiters  in  white  aprons,  and  ele 
gant  ladies  playing  the  grand  piano  ;  and  I  felt  almost  grateful  to  the  Pitts 
burgh  editor  who  had  invented  the  felicitous  phrase — "floating  palace" — 
to  embellish  his  description  of  her.  Yes — I  would  go  to  Texas ! 

Having  taken  my  best  clothes  from  the  little  trunk,  I  was  not  unprepos 
sessing  in  appearance,  I  suppose,  for  when  I  modestly  accosted  Captain 
Johnson,  and  inquired  for  the  person  in  charge  of  Texas  emigration,  he 
promptly  replied — 

"  Oh,  yes — I'll  take  great  pleasure  in  presenting  you  to  Col.  Behren- 
beck." 

I  was  accordingly  introduced  at  once  to  that  distinguished  warrior,  as  I 
took  him  to  be — a  man  of  some  forty-five  years,  five  feet  nine  in  stature, 
costumed  in  a  sort  of  undress  uniform,  and  with  a  full  beard  and  wondrous 
mustaehios — altogether  a  most  formidable  looking  son  of  Mars. 

"  Ach  !  mine  goot  yunk  frient !"  said  the  Colonel — "so — yes — I  be  glat  to 
see  you  !  Ach  ! — you  will  emigrade — you  go  mit  us  to  de  beautiful  Dexass  !" 

I  replied  that  such  was  my  intention,  and  that  I  was  ready  to  come  on 
board  at  once. 

"  Ach !— dat  is  goot !  De  quick  younk  mans  I  likes.  Ach !— we  was  all 
time  quick  in  de  Broosian  armay.  Dat  was  de  armay !  Ach  ! — we  must  be 
like  Old  Fritz,  here,  dere,  all  where.  Ach  !— yes— and  de  armay  is  goot,  too, 
in  Dexass." 

"  But,  Col.  Behrenbeck,  I  understand  we  go  as  emigrants,  and  not  as 
soldiers?" 

"  Ach !— yes — my  yunk  frient — dat  is  so.  We  go  not  as  droops.  De  Presi 
dent  allow  not  dat.  But  emigrand— ach !— yes— dat  is  it.  You  go  emigrand 


72  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

— you  will  have  big  land — catties — horses — sheeps  !  Ach  ! — yes — you  be  rich 
man  in  Dexass." 

"  The  war  with  Mexico  is  pretty  much  over,  I  suppose,  Col.  Behren- 
beck?" 

"Ach! — de  war! — Bah! — dat  is  nottings.  Ach! — Mexico  not  is  more 
as  dat !" 

And  he  flung  the  stump  of  his  cigar  over  the  rail. 

" Then,"  I  continued,  "it  isn't  likely  there'll  be  any  more  fighting?" 

"  Fight  ?— Ach  !— der  tevful— no,  no  !  Not  mooch  fight.  But  if  de  Mex 
icans  come — ach  ! — we  fight.  Den  you  be  in  de  armay.  Ach  ! — yes — you  be 
Capifcm,  you  be  Coionel,  you  be  General  in  Dexass." 

With  prospects  so  alluring,  what  youth  rising  twenty  years  would  not 
have  emigrated  to  Texas  ? — especially  in  the  superb  cabin  of  the  Constella 
tion  ?— "  to  furnish  which,"  the  editor  of  the  Pittsburgh.daily  had  told  us, 
"Captain  Johnson  summoned  Aladdin's  obedient  genii,  and  ordered  the 
splendid  and  gorgeous  decorations,  equally  chaste  and  magnificent,  to  be 
lavished  without  regard  to  cost."  A  few  ladies  were  already  on  board,  and 
more  gentlemen ;  nice  people  as  need  be ;  and  I  doubted  not  the  gentlemen 
were  emigrants,  and  possibly  some  of  the  ladies  too..  Yes ;  emigration  to 
Texas  was  just  the  thing,  and  no  question  but  we  would  all  get  acquainted 
after  starting,  and  be  as  sociable  as  on  the  canal  packets. 

When  I  had  paid  my  bill  at  the  hotel,  and  had  only  "  four  bits  "  left- 
western  lingo  then  for  half  a  dollar — I  took  the  little  trunk  on  my  shoulder 
and  the  valise  in  my  hand,  intending  to  carry  them  to  the  boat.  As  I  bade 
farewell  to  the  clerk,  I  thought  what  a  pity  it  was  that  so  nice  a  young  man 
should  be  doomed  to  waste  his  life  behind  a  counter  in  a  Pittsburg  hotel, 
and  not  have  a  chance  to  make  his  fortune  and  be  a  great  General  in  Texas  ! 
Soon  tiring  of  my  load,  I  got  a  drayman  to  take  my  things  to  the  wharf  for 
a  "bit,"  so  that  I  had  just  "three  bits,"  or  37£  cents,  when  I  reached  the 
Constellation,  on  my  adventurous  way  to  "  the  land  of  the  wild  hyacinth," 
as  some  poetical  editor  had  cal]ed  it. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  73 


CHAPTER  XI. 

BOARDING  THE  CONSTELLATION  —  THE  EMIGRANTS  —  PROMOTION  —  MORRIS  EX- 
LISTS— CINCINNATI— THE   GENERAL— OUR  MARCH— NO  PHOTOGRAPHS  THEN 

—  ON  GUARD  —  LOUISVILLE  IN  SIGHT — NICE  PLACE — PROPOSAL  TO  DESERT- 
FINANCES —  ROB   ROY — CAGLEY  AS  TONY  LUMPKIN  —  FAITHFUL  WATCHMAN 

—  THE  VALISE  LENT  —  MORRIS  AT  HIS  UNCLE'S  —  FREE  PASSAGE  PAID  FOR  — 
SUSPENSION  OF  SPECIE   PAYMENT  —  TOM   MARSHALL'S  ORATORY  —  THEATRI 
CAL  AMBITION  COOLED  DOWN  —  PARSONS  THE   PREACHER  —  THE  REDBREAST 

—  ORMSBY'S     MALICE  — KIND     BIRNEY    MARSHALL —  HOMESICK —PHRENOL 
OGY — THE    FUTURE    GREAT   CITY. 

Leaving  my  trunk  and  valise  at  the  shore  end  of  the  Constellation's 
plank  (rather  exultant  that  I  was  to  begin  my  steamboat  experience  on  the 
largest  and  finest  boat  that  had  ever,  as  the  editor  told  us,  "embellished 
with  her  seductive  presence  the  busy  wharves  of  Pittsburgh ''),  I  stepped 
up  to  Captain  Johnson  and  politely  told  him  that  I  was  going  to  Texas,  and 
would  be  much  obliged  if  he  would  have  my  things  brought  on  board. 

"  I  suppose  the  staterooms  are  not  all  taken — are  they,  Captain  ?" 

"No — ah— you're  going  with  Col.  Behrenbeck?" 

"Yes — of  course.    I  told  him  so." 

"  You — ah — you  intend  to  go  in  the  cabin  ?" 

"  Why,  yes— I  suppose  so.    The  Texas  government  pays—don't  it?" 

"  Oh,  yes — ah — you  know — if  you're  to  be  in  the  cabin  there's  an  extra 
charge." 

"Sir?" 

1 '  Why  yes— you  see— ah— the  emigrants,  you  know— they  go  as  deck 
passengers." 

I  did  not  know  what  the  deck  was,  but  I  had  not  seen  any  people  on  the 
roof,  which  I  supposed  to  be  the  deck,  and  so  I  asked— 

"  Well,  Captain,  where  are  the  deck  passengers?" 

"They're  aft,  below;  but  you  had  better  pay  extra,  and  come  in  the 
cabin.  Col.  Behrenbeck  is  of  course  in  the  cabin,  and  you'll  find  it  pleas- 
anter." 

"  No— I'll  go  with  the  emigrants,"  I  bravely  replied,  and  did  my  best  to 
look  as  if  I  had  plenty  of  cash  to  go  in  the  cabin  if  I  wanted  to. 

I  soon  had  my  baggage  back  to  where  the  deck  passengers  were,  and  the 


74  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEAKS. 

reader,  if  he  knows  what  a  steamboat  "  deck  "  was  forty-six  years  ago,  may 
try  to  picture  to  himself  the  situation,  on  the  first  of  April,  1837.  A  more 
ill-looking  set  of  scallawags  than  the  fellows  on  deck  as  Texas  emigrants 
can  hardly  be  imagined,  and  I  have  often  wondered  since  that  I  trusted 
myself  among  them.  But  I  understood  at  once  the  tender  hesitation  of 
good  Capt.  Johnson,  in  telling  me  that  I  must  pay  extra  for  a  place  in  the 
cabin,  or  go  on  deck.  My  dream  of  a  felicitous  float  down  to  New  Orleans 
in  the  sumptuous  cabin  of  the  Constellation  was  rudely  dispelled. 

The  boat,  when  finally  ready,  left  in  the  night,  and  in  the  morning  I 
went  up  stairs  to  see  Col.  Behrenbeck.  I  told  him  I  had  supposed  I  was  to 
go  in  the  cabin,  but  that  I  would  not  back  out,  although  I  had  never  asso 
ciated  with  low  fellows  like  his  Texas  emigrants,  nor  been  used  to  life  as 
rough  as  that  on  the  deck  of  a  steamboat. 

"Ach! — my  goot  yunk  frient — dat  is  so,"  said  the  warrior;  "  but  it  is 
nottings — no,  it  is  nottings  !  Ach ! — you  soon  tink  not  of  all  dat.  And, 
now— see— I  myself  make  you  officer.  Ach  !— yes— you  be  Commissaire  ;— 
you  will  go  to  de  Steward  for  de  ration  for  all  de  men.  Yes — I  make  you 
officer.  Ach  ! — yes — you  be  now  Capifrm — Commissaire  Capifom  /" 

While  my  promotion  was  yet  fresh  we  reached  Wheeling.  Our  flag  was 
up,  and  a  man  as  guard  with  a  Prussian  sabre  at  his  shoulder,  and  the  long 
scabbard  trailing  the  hurricane  deck,  paced  in  front  of  it.  As  Col.  Behren 
beck  and  myself  stepped  on  shore  for  a  brief  look  at  the  lone  star  flag  from 
the  wharf,  a  well-dressed  young  man  of  some  twenty-three  years  accosted 
him  to  enquire  about  Texas  emigration,  of  which  he  had  seen  a  notice  in  the 
papers.  His  name,  he  said,  was  George  Washington  Morris,  and  he  had 
been  clerking  in  village  stores,  but  wanted  a  chance  for  better  fortune. 

"Here  is  de  Commissaire  Capitan,  my  yunk  gentlemans,"  Col.  Behren 
beck  said  to  him.  "Ach! — he  tell  you  all.  Yes — you  be  good  camarade — 
you  and  de  Capita^.  Ach !— yes— you  will  be  emigrand  too,  my  goot  frient ! 
You  will  come  mit  us  to  de  beautiful  Dexass  !" 

Morris  was  charmed  with  the  prospect,  as  I  briefly  painted  it  in  a  few 
bold  strokes  ;  telling  him  that  such  a  fine-looking  fellow  would  be  sure 
to  marry  rich  and  make  his  fortune  generally,  to  say  nothing  of  military 
fame  if  the  war  continued,  and  diplomatic  distinction  after  its  close.  So  he 
came  aboard,  with  high  hopes  (and  a  big  trunk),  prepared  to  endure  the 
discomfort  of  a  deck  passage  for  the  sake  of  wealth  and  glory  in  the  future. 
We  fellowshipped,  occupied  a  bunk  together,  and  tried  to  keep  each  other 
warm  on  the  voyage ;  for  by  an  unusual  freak  the  weather  had  brought  four 
inches  of  snow  to  greet  our  arrival  at  Wheeling,  on  the  fourth  of  April,  and 
the  nights  were  unusually  cold. 

Arrived  at  Cincinnati,  Col.  Behrenbeck  paraded  his  motley  troop,  and  we 
marched  up  to  the  Broadway  House,  to  pay  our  respects  to  a  Texan  General, 
whose  name  I  have  forgotten.  It  was  a  very  formal  call.  Col.  Behrenbeck 
and  the  General  made  effusive  speeches,  complimentary,  first  of  each  other, 
then  of  us,  as  emigrants  to  replenish  Texas,  and  to  fight  her  battles.  The 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN   SIXTY    FEARS.  75 

General  was  young  to  hold  a  rank  so  high.  His  manners  were  polished  and 
dignified,  and  he  bore  himself  quite  proudly,  with  a  pair  of  large  gilt  spurs 
on  his  heels,  and  his  head  thrust  through  a  poncho  of  as  many  colors  as 
Joseph's'coat,  and  which  draped  gracefully  from  his  shoulders.  Altogether, 
he  and  our  Colonel  were  a  picturesque  pair ;  but  the  tout  ensemble  of  the 
troop  of  emigrants,  as  we  marched  the  streets  of  Cincinnati,  who  could 
portray  ?  Only  a  photograph — and  we  had  not  even  Daguerreotypes  then — 
could  have  done  us  justice.  No  lesser  artist  than  the  Sun  could  hnve  pain  ted 
us,  and  even  he  could  hardly  have  delineated  the  villainous  countenances 
of  some  of  our  ragamuffins.  But  possibly  I  am  too  severe  on  the  emigrants. 
None  of  them  did  anything  bad  on  the  voyage,  though  some  of  them  looked 
as  if  they  ought  to  have  stolen  something  or  killed  somebody,  in  order  to 
keep  their  acts  in  character  with  their  faces. 

While  we  laid  at  Cincinnati,  our  men  were  called  on  to  help  in  coaling, 
at  which  Morris  had  charge  of  them,  and  I  mounted  guard.  As  the  day 
was  mild,  I  wore  my  brown  Holland  shadbelly  coat,  with  the  maroon  bind 
ing  and  claret-colored  buttons.  With  the  sabre  at  my  shoulder,  and  the 
long  scabbard  trailing,  I  gravely  paced  the  deck  in  front  of  the  lone  star 
flag,  regardless  alike  of  curious  eyes  and  irreverent  comments.  There  was 
no  lack  of  spectators,  but  they  were  fairly  non-plussed  by  the  coat  till 
Morris  told  them  it  was  the  regulation  uniform  of  a  commissary  captain  in 
the  Texan  army. 

At  length  we  neared  Louisville,  and  the  city  could  be  seen  in  the  dis 
tance.  Sheltered  from  the  fresh  breeze  by  one  of  the  chimneys,  I  was  seated 
on  the  roof,  contriving  how  best  to  get  ashore  and  abandon  the  voyage,  of 
which  I  was  heartily  tired,  when  Morris  came  up  and  seated  himself 
beside  me. 

"  See  here,"  said  Morris,  "  that's  Louisville  down  there." 

"  Yes,  I  know.    Looks  low  down  to  the  water,  don't  it?" 

"  Nice  place  though,  they  say." 

"  Well,  yes — I  reckon  it  is.    Good  paper  there :  Prentice's  Journal." 

"  See  here ;  this  is  a  tolerably  (blank)  hard  trip  ;  (blank)  if  it  isn't." 

"Think  so?" 

"Yes;  (blank)  if  I  don't." 

"  Oh,  well — it  will  soon  be  over.  Ship  from  New  Orleans  to  Texas.  Col. 
Behrenbeck  told  me." 

"  (Blank)  Col.  Behrenbeck  !  I  say,  look  here  ;  it's  too  (blank)  hard  to 
stand,  this  kind  of  thing,  for  fellows  like  us." 

"  Pshaw  ! — soldiers  must  bear  hardship." 

"  (Blank)  it !— we're  not  soldiers,  and  I  don't  intend  to  be.  And  I  tell 
you  what— you  keep  mum ;— but  I  believe  I'll  give  it  up  at  Louisville." 

"  What,  Morris  !— you'll  not  desert?" 

"  Desert  be  (blank) !— I'm  going  ashore  any  way." 

After  sufficient  but  rather  feeble  remonstrance  against  the  proposed 
desertion,  I  at  length  permitted  Morris  to  convince  me  that  we  ought  to 


76  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

look  out  for  ourselves,  and  that  Louisville  was  just  the  place  to  do  it.  With 
apparent  reluctance  I  agreed  to  join  him  in  what  I  had  previously  decided 
to  do  for  myself.  Nor  did  I  feel  any  compunction,  as  Col.  Behrenbeck's 
handbill  had  held  out  allurements  not  justified  by  the  facts.  The  free 
passage  was  by  no  means  what  I  had  understood  it  was  to  be  ;  and  besides, 
although  I  was  already  dubbed  Capifcm,  I  yet  had  serious  doubts  if  I  would 
ever  be  "  a  Coronet  or  a  General  in  Dexass !" 

The  Constellation  had  tied  up  at  Louisville,  and  after  an  early  supper 
Morris  and  I  had  gone  ashore.  We  were  attracted  by  a  theatre  poster 
advertising  the  play  of  Rob  Roy.  I  did  not  know  anything  about  Mr. 
Roy,  nor  did  Morris,  neither  of  us  having  ever  read  his  adventures  as  given 
by  Sir  Walter ;  nor  had  either  of  us  ever  been  in  a  city  theatre.  We  both 
wanted  to  see  a  theatre,  but  the  trouble  was  how  to  get  in.  As  I  had  spent 
my  remaining  three  "  bits  "  at  Wheeling  and  Cincinnati,  my  case  was  des 
perate  ;  but  Morris  had  two  silver  half  dollars  left,  and  Mr.  Roy  might  be 
seen  for  these.  Great  emergencies  develope  expedients.  I  gave  my  friend 
a  silver-plated  pencil  case  for  one  of  the  coins,  and,  our  hearts  alight  with 
expectation,  in  we  went. 

Oh,  what  a  splendid  theatre,  and  what  glorious  acting  !  What  a  brave 
fellow  Mr.  Rob  Roy  was— Rob  Roy  McGregor  !  And  his  furious  and  vengeful 
wife— Helen  McGregor !— how  she  drew  our  sympathy  despite  her  violence ! 
Details  are  forgotten,  but  I  remember  the  general  effect  on  the  unsophis 
ticated  mind  of  youth— thrilling,  overpowering,  fusing  me  into  the  very 
characters  on  the  stage!  And  as  to  Baillie  Nichol  Jarvie— "  My  Con 
science  !"— can  I  ever  forget  him  ?  I  had  seen  the  Thespians  in  my  native 
town,  when  Joseph  Cogley,  our  genial  fellow-citizen,  played  Tony  Lumpkin 
with  touches  of  humor  that  Dr.  Goldsmith  had  never  dreamed  of— and  I 
had  myself  on  one  occasion,  when  a  strolling  troupe  came  along  and  one  of 
the  utility  lads  fell  sick,  played  Diggory  in  Family  Jars,  filling  up  with  my 
own  invention  when  I  forgot  the  text ;  but  what  was  all  this,  in  a  village 
hall,  to  the  magnificent  Louisville  Theatre  ?  Alas  !  and  alas  !— it  was  almost 
equal,  this  night  with  Rob  Roy,  to  my  first  circus  !  And  alas  !  again,  what 
a  pity  it  is  that  we  can  only  enjoy  a  first  circus  and  a  first  theatre  once  in  all 
our  lives  ! 

Returning  to  the  Constellation,  Morris  gave  the  pencil  case  I  had  sold 
him,  and  I  gave  a  pocket  knife,  to  the  vigilant  watchman  of  the  boat  to  help 
us  ashore,  by  bringing  the  yawl  alongside  the  after  guard  and  taking  our 
baggage  to  the  wharf.  Once  on  land,  we  managed  to  carry  our  things  up 
to  the  Louisville  Hotel,  left  them  on  the  sidewalk  for  the  porter  to  bring  in, 
registered  our  names,  and  engaged  board  at  ten  dollars  a  week  each,  with 
fire  in  the  room  on  cool  days. 

Early  next  day  I  got  a  "  situation  "  as  jour,  printer  in  the  office  of  James 
Birney  Marshall,  who  published  a  daily  newspaper,  and  also  the  Western 
Magazine,  a  monthly,  edited  by  Wm.  D.  Gallagher.  I  at  once  went  back  to 
the  hotel,  frankly  told  the  manager  my  case,  and  on  a  promise  to  pay  my 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  77 

bill  for  the  lodging  and  breakfast  I  had  enjoyed,  got  my  trunk  and  valise. 
Then  I  took  board  near  the  printing  office  at  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  week. 
I  detail  these  little  incidents  to  show  that  I  was  more  fortunate  than  my 
friend  Morris,  who  could  get  no  employment,  and  after  a  few  days  called  on 
me  for  a  little  talk. 

"  See  here,"  he  began,  "  I  want  you  to  do  me  a  favor." 

"  Well,  what  can  I  do  for  you  ?" 

"I  want  to  borrow  that  valise  of  yours  for  two  or  three  days.  I've  an 
uncle  over  in  Indiana  that  I  have'nt  seen  for  a  long  time,  and  he's  well  off, 
and  might  help  me  if  I  go  to  see  him." 

"  But  how  will  you  pay  your  bill  at  the  hotel?" 

"  Oh,  that  will  be  all  right.    I'll  leave  my  trunk  till  I  get  back." 

Are  there  ever  premonitions  ?  Do  we  ever  really  feel  a  future  event  ?  I 
ask  this,  because  a  thought  flashed  through  my  mind  that  if  I  should  lend 
Morris  that  vaiise  it  would  never  be  returned.  But  I  might  be  doing  a 
young  man  inj  ustice,  and  I  at  once  decided  to  let  him  have  it.  not  only  in 
obedience  to  the  golden  rule,  to  do  as  I  would  wish  to  be  done  by,  but  also  to 
see  if  he  would  ever  bring  it  back.  He  has  not  yet  brought  it  back,  and 
considering  that  two  score  and  six  years  of  the  greatest  activity  in  the 
world's  history  have  elapsed,  I  begin  to  fear  that  he  never  will ;  nor  can  I 
agree  with  my  friend,  Mr.  George  I.  Barnett,  now  at  my  elbow,  that  Morris 
may  possibly  be  going  round  with  that  valise  in  his  hand  looking  for  the 
owner.  Fortunately  for  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  which  he  has  adorned  with 
so  many  buildings  at  once  substantial,  chaste  and  elegant,  George  I.  is 
more  reliable  as  an  architect  than  as  a  counsellor  in  regard  to  lent  luggage. 
Before  I  left  Louisville,  some  weeks  after  this  experiment  in  lending  the 
valise  began,  I  called  at  the  Louisville  Hotel  to  inquire  if  Morris  had 
returned.  No,  he  had  not  returned.  Did  they  know  where  he  was?  No, 
but  they  would  like  to  know.  (Seemed  friendly  to  a  poor  young  man.) 
Had  he  taken  his  trunk  ?  No,  he  had  not  taken  his  trunk.  Then  he  would 
likely  soon  be  back  ?  No,  they  thought  not,  as  he  had  carried  away  all  its 
contents  piecemeal  before  leaving.  This  all  happened  so  long  ago  that  the 
trunk  may  have  been  taken  away  before  now,  and  Morris  may  be  still 
visiting  his  uncle  over  in  Indiana,  though  that  relative  must  by  this  time 
be  quite  an  old  man. 

The  Constellation  remained  at  Louisville  three  or  four  days.  On  the 
second  day  some  of  the  emigrants  having  seen  me  at  the  window  of  the 
printing  office,  Col.  Behrenbeck  sent  a  polite  message  requesting  me  to  call 
and  bid  him  good  bye,  if  I  did  not  intend  to  go  on  to  "  de  beautiful  Dexass." 
When  I  went  to  the  boat  I  found  the  brave  Colonel  "  very  much  sorries  " 
that  I  had  abandoned  the  brilliant  prospect  of  fortune  and  fame ;  but  if  I 
was  determined  to  throw  away  my  chances,  he  wanted  six  dollars  for  my 
passage  from  Pittsburgh. 

"All  right,  Col.  Behrenbeck,"  I  replied;  "but  I  have  no  money.  Mr. 
Marshall  will,  may  be,  lend  me  enough.  I'll  go  up  and  ask  him." 


78  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY   YEARS. 

"  Ach — yes — dat  is  goot !  I  sends  two  mens.  Den  you  comes  back  mil 
dem." 

"  No,  sir.  I'll  not  go  under  guard.  I  pledge  you  my  honor  to  return 
with  the  money." 

"  Ach !— yes— my  yunk  Men  t— yes— but  it  is  not  goot  honors  to  go  off  de 
boat  in  de  night !  No— dat  not  goot  honors !" 

The  Colonel  had  me  at  disadvantage,  as  it  really  did  not  look  well, 
that  desertion,  especially  for  a  Commissary  Captain.  But  I  persisted  that 
I  would  not  go  guarded,  and  was  becoming  excited  and  worried  as  the  dis 
cussion  went  on,  when  a  gentleman  from  Pittsburgh,  whose  name  I  have 
forgotten,  interfered,  and  said  he  would  guarantee  my  return ;  an  act  of 
practical  Christianity  and  genuine  kindness  that  has  always  been  fresh  in 
memory,  and  has  often  prompted  me  to  resolve  in  favor  of  doing  likewise. 
Mr.  Marshall  responded  in  like  Christian  manner,  although  I  was  only  a 
wandering  printer  and  a  stranger.  No  doubt  both  gentlemen  enjoyed 
pleasant  reflections,  as  the  memory  one  can  retain  of  good  deeds  done  to 
others  costs  nothing  to  keep  up,  and  is  a  clear  gain  in  the  way  of  daily  en 
joyment. 

The  price  of  my  "free  passage"  was  paid,  and  I  saw  the  last  of  Col. 
Behrenbeck,  his  big  mustachios,  and  his  select  batch  of  emigrants,  who  left 
in  the  morning  for  "  de  beautiful  Dexass."  The  next  year,  1838,  Memucah 
Hunt  appeared  at  Washington  City  as  an  envoy  very  extraordinary  from 
•the  Republic  of  Texas,  with  a  proposal  from  that  land  of  great  expectations 
to  become  a  part  of  the  United  States.  As  Texas  maintained  her  independ 
ence,  and  after  waiting  about  as  long  as  Jacob,  worked  for  a  wife  that  he 
was  cheated  out  of,  actually  became  a  State  of  the  Union,  merging  her 
"  lone  star  "  in  our  splendid  constellation  (as  if  the  name  of  our  steamboat 
had  been  prophetic),  I  really  cannot  see  that  my  somewhat  inglorious 
desertion  at  Louisville  had  any  serious  effect  on  her  welfare. 

The  only  public  event  that  I  remember  as  taking  place  during  my 
sojourn  in  Louisville,  was  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  in  May,  1837. 
"  The  banks  has  busted  !"  was  the  general  phrase  on  the  street,  and  an 
immense  open  air  meeting  was  held  in  the  evening,  which  was  addressed 
by  Thomas  F.  Marshall ;  but  what  Mr.  Marshall  said,  and  what  the  meet 
ing  did,  if  anything,  I  do  not  remember.  I  only  recollect  the  manner  in 
which  the  orator  seemed  to  sway  at  his  will  the  people  before  him;  and 
while  with  our  modern  money  the  growing  younkers  of  Uncle  Sam's  familj" 
are  likely  to  escape  the  inconveniences  of  such  a  "  revulsion  "  as  we  had  in 
1837,  they  lose  the  enthusing  and  enchanting  "stump-speaking"  we  used 
to  enjoy.  But  such  oratory  was  then  as  new  to  me  as  the  suspension  of 
specie  payments  itself.  I  had  heard  good  speeches  in  Pennsylvania  — 
methodical,  logical,  argumentative,  convincing;  but  none  with  the  glow 
and  brilliancy  pervading  the  speech  of  "Tom  Marshall."  I  thought  it 
must  be  delightful  to  be  an  orator,  and  by  the  wagging  of  the  tongue  con 
vulse  a  mass  of  men  with  laughter,  or  melt  them  in  tears,  or  rouse  their 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  79 

indignant  passions.  But  I  feared  that  I  had  not  the  gifts  needed  for  suc 
cess.  Some  imagination  I  had,  but  I  lacked  memory  and  mental  disci 
pline  ;  and  I  was  already  becoming  sensible  of  the  great  mistake  I  had  made 
when  I  insisted  on  being  a  printer. 

No  doubt  I  was  a  sprightly  boy,  but  a  sprightly  boy  is  not  the  one  to  be 
put  in  a  village  printing  office.  Put  your  slow,  plodding  boy  there — a  very 
safe  kind  of  boy— and  he  will  improve.  The  sprightly  boy,  whose  mind 
needs  discipline,  will  read  all  that  comes  to  hand  and  probably  remember 
very  little ;  get  a  smattering  of  everything  and  be  profound  in  nothing. 
Such  was  too  much  my  own  case  ;  and  hence,  while  I  felt  that  I  might  ac 
quire  the  manner  of  a  good  speaker,  I  decided  that  I  would  probably  fail  in 
matter,  not  only  perhaps  from  defective  reasoning  powers,  but  also  from 
lack  of  that  retentive  memory  which  is  necessary  to  retain  the  facts  needed 
for  every  effective  discourse.  With  more  vanity  and  self-esteem,  however, 
I  would  probably  have  tried  to  train  myself  for  oratory,  and  might  have 
had  a  fair  measure  of  success.  But  if  I  could  not  be  an  orator  and  utter  my 
own  speeches,  why  not  utter  those  of  others?  Why  not  go  on  the  stage,  be 
an  actor,  and  play  orator  ?  Ever  since  I  had  played  Diggory  in  Family  Jars 
I  had  dreamed  at  times  that  I  might  possibly  train  myself  for  the  stage ; 
and  after  hearing  Mr.  Marshall,  I  resolved  to  offer  myself  as  an  apprentice- 
actor  to  the  manager  of  the  Louisville  Theatre.  I  had  not  decided  whether 
to  take  tragedy  or  comedy,  but  supposed  I  might  possibly  be  equal  to  either, 
and  would  select  after  a  trial  of  both ! 

Mr.  Parsons  was  the  manager  of  the  Theatre,  and  received  me  with 
Christian  kindness,  apparently  wearing  his  religion  with  his  every-day 
clothes,  looked  at  me  with  melancholy  eyes,  in  a  far-away  fashion,  as  if  his 
thoughts  were  elsewhere,  and  let  me  detail  my  pretensions,  hopes  and  ex 
pectations.  Then  he  spoke,  in  substance : 

"  My  young  friend,  you  can,  I  think,  be  an  actor.  Some  characters  you 
will  probably  be  able  to  fill  at  once,  and  others  as  you  gain  experience. 
There  will  always  be  something  that  you  can  do,  and  no  doubt  do  it  well ; 
but  let  me  advise  you — don't  do  it.  If  you  can  live  at  anything  else,  keep  off 
the  stage.  The  actor's  profession  is  laborious,  its  compensation  uncertain, 
its  temptations  groat.  Give  to  law,  to  medicine,  to  commerce  or  manufac 
tures  the  same  unending  labor  which  alone  can  command  success  on  the 
stage  worth  having,  and  you  will  be  prosperous  and  happy.  Very  few 
actors  rise  above  mediocrity,  and  these  would  have  risen  in  any  other  pro 
fession.  The  great  majority  lead  lives  of  labor,  care,  privation,  and  often 
positive  unhappiness.  Few  are  ever  able  to  provide  adequately  for  their 
declining  years.  No— let  me  earnestly  advise  you  to  keep  off  the  stage." 

The  harm  Mr.  Parsons  did  to  me  or  to  the  stage,  in  keeping  me  off  it, 
who  can  tell?  I  might  have  risen  to  the  zenith,  a  blazing  star,  and  be 
blazing  there  yet,  for  all  any  one  can  prove  now.  I  felt  that  I  could  do 
reasonably  well  in  the  profession  ;  but  his  evidently  sincere  advice,  so 
solemnly  given,  decided  me  to  give  up  all  thought  of  an  actor's  career.  I 


80  NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

have  often  since  thought  that  Mr.  Parsons  may  have  been  at  the  time  con 
templating  his  own  retirement  from  theatrical  life,  and  his  entry  into  the 
sacred  ministry,  as  he  afterwards  became  a  preacher  of  the  Methodist  Epis 
copal  Church,  and  was  for  a  time  pastor  of  the  old  "Centenary,"  in  St. 
Louis.  I  never  doubted  that  he  was  a  good  man  —  possibly  one  of  the 
"  elect." 

But  there  was  another  character  in  Louisville  decidedly  not  of  the  "  elect." 
That  was  Ormsby,  a  jour,  printer.  The  versifying  spell  had  come  on  me,  one 
Sunday,  as  I  strolled  to  the  fields  outside  of  the  city  to  see  Nature  in  her 
Kentucky  raiment,  and  I  had  written  a  piece  for  Mr.  Marshall's  paper.  If 
the  reader  is  familiar  with  British  literature  of  half  a  century  and  more  ago, 
he  will  remember  that  the  poet  James  Montgomery,  when  in  jail  for  print 
ing  some  offensive  matter  in  his  paper  (which  would  not,  however,  be  pun 
ishable  now,  I  think),  wrote  a  piece  headed  "Verses  to  a  Robin  Redbreast, 
who  Visits  the  Window  of  my  Prison  every  Day";  of  which  piece  I  tran 
scribe  the  first  verse : 

"Welcome,  pretty  little  stranger— 

Welcome  to  my  lone  retreat; 
Here,  secure  from  every  danger, 

Hop  about,  and  chirp,  and  eat. 
Robin,  how  I  envy  thee, 
Happy  child  of  Liberty!" 

As  I  had  not  then  read  all  the  standard  British  poets,  I  knew  nothing  of 
this  Redbreast  poetry,  or  in  fact  anything  else  of  Montgomery's,  except  the 
pieces  Mother  used  to  recite  to  us  at  home  (as  mothers  did  in  the  old  days), 
and  the  selections  we  had  reader  declaimed  at  school,  such  as  "Night  is 
the  Time  for  Rest,"  and  so  011 ;  from  which  facts  the  reader  will  see  that  I 
had  110  suspicion  of  having  been  anticipated  by  J.  M.  when  I  composed  my 
"Lines  to  a  Redbreast,"  in  six  or  eight  verses,  with  longer  lines  by  all  odds 
than  Montgomery's  piece,  and  a  great  many  words  in  proportion  to  the  ideas. 
The  first  verse  (all  I  recollect)  ran  copiously : 

Come  hither,  thou  songster,  come  hither  and  sing- 
Come  sit  011  my  finger,  I  pray; 

Though  I  like  to  behold  thee  so  gay  on  the  wing, 

As  joyous  and  playful  as  zephyr  of  spring, 
And  bright  as  the  opening  day, — 

Yet  dearer,  oh  dearer,  the  pleasure,  Redbreast, 

Of  having  thee  here  in  my  keeping  to  rest! 

They  were  very  innocent  verses,  and  meant  no  harm  even  to  the  bird 
(which,  I  believe,  don't  sing  in  Kentucky) ;  but  the  odious  Ormsby,  with 
malice  prepense,  went  to  the  trouble  of  pasting  dozens  of  printed  slips  of  the 
Lines  to  a  Redbreast  on  the  walls  of  the  printing  office,  as  a  means  of  bring 
ing  the  piece  into  ridicule.  He  was  not  sure  that  I  was  the  author,  but 
thought  I  was,  and  the  display  on  the  walls  was  intended  to  annoy  me.  It 
was  a  wonderful  bit  of  wickedness  for  a  jour,  printer  to  be  engaged  in,  as 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  81 

the  craft  is  notable  for  its  intelligence,  gentlemanly  manners,  and  practical 
Christianity ;  but  the  case  is  worth  recording  as  a  strong  proof  that  the  old- 
fashioned  doctrine  of  predestination  may  be  reliable,  and  any  one  doomed  to 
the  place  of  torment  need  not  be  suprised  to  find  Ormsby  there. 

James  Birney  Marshall  was  very  kind  to  me.  He  offered  to  provide  ma 
terials  for  a  paper  at  Warsaw,  Kentucky,  and  give  me  an  interest  if  I  would 
take  charge  of  it ;  and  afterwards,  when  a  committee  of  gentlemen  from  Pa- 
ducah  came  to  Louisville  to  get  materials  and  an  editor  for  a  paper  there,  he 
recommended  me  strongly,  and  advised  me  to  go.  And  all  this,  too,  know 
ing  that  I  had  deserted  from  Col.  Behrenbeck's  troop  of  Texan  emigrants, 
and  had  written  Lines  to  a  Redbreast. 

But  I  was  nostalgic  (or,  as  we  said  before  the  country  got  so  rich  and 
learned,  "  homesick7';)  and  although  I  worked  hard  all  the  week,  and  on 
Sundays  would  go  out  in  the  fields  to  enjoy  the  unwritten  music  of  Nature, 
which  never  has  a  false  note,  or  would  saunter  along  the  steamboat  canal  to 
Portland,  to  muse  on  the  grist  and  woolen-mills,  and  furnaces  and  forges 
that  might  be  run  by  the  stupendous  water-power  of  the  Ohio  Falls,  yet  I 
began  to  long  to  "go  home."  I  wanted  to  go  back  to  Pennsylvania,  not,  I 
think,  entirely  from  affection  for  relatives  or  friends,  and  not  at  all  from  fear 
of  not  being  able  to  provide  for  myself,  but  because  of  a  bump  on  my  head  I 
I  refer  to  the  phrenological  bump  of  "  locality." 

Between  1830  and  1840  Phrenology  was  widely  discussed,  and  Professor 
Fowler  had  been  through  Pennsylvania  (I  think,  in  1834  or  1835)  lecturing 
on  the  new  Science,  and  examining  heads,  in  order  to  tell  the  owners  what 
their  bumps  indicated  as  to  talents  and  disposition.  He  said  I  had  the  bump 
of  "locality"  large,  indicating  a  pronen^ss  to  note  and  remember  the  physi 
cal  features  of  Nature,  and  to  become  attached  to  particular  places  and  sur 
roundings.  In  this  he  was  entirely  correct,  as  also  in  regard  to  my  bump  of 
"caution,  "  which  he  said  was  prominent,  and  which  to  my  certain  know 
ledge  has  always  influenced  me  to  do  my  best  to  keep  out  of  danger.  My 
bump  of  "  causality,"  he  said,  denoted  fair  reasoning  powers,  and  "ideality" 
some  fondness  for  poetry  and  sentiment,  while  my  "amativeness"  gave  assur 
ance  that  my  heart  would  always  pulsate  earnestly  in  devotion  to  the  supe 
rior  sex.  But  "  combativeness"  was  below  par,  and,  in  connection  with  my 
large  "caution,"  showed  that  I  was  probably  not  intended  by  nature  to  be  a 
great  fighter.  I  sympathize  with  the  hastening  moderns,  who  have  none  of 
the  phrenological  entertainment  we  ancients  used  to  have.  Phrenology  is 
indeed  a  very  pretty  science,  and  a  Professor  going  round  feeling  heads  is 
sure  to  shed  abroad  a  great  deal  of  satisfaction,  as  he  inevitably  finds  on 
every  head  some  bumps  that  it  pleases  the  owner  to  know  are  there. 

Large  steamboats  were  often  at  Portland  "FOB  ST.  Louis,"  but  it  was 
not  my  kismet  then  to  visit  the  Future  Great  City,  which  even  so  long  ago 
had  high  repute  as  a  place  of  unmeasured  possibilities.  No — I  would  get 
back  to  Pennsylvania. 


82  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

PADDLING  UP  THE  OHIO— MY  FIRST  LOCOMOTIVE— INCLINED  PLANES— A  GREAT 
FEATURE — PUNS — THE  PEERLESS  COMMONWEALTH — A  VANDAL — THE  HORSE 
SHOE  CURVE — GREATER  WONDERS  IN  COLORADO  AND  PERU — SERPENTINE 
TUNNELS  —  WILLIAM  MILNOR  ROBERTS— A  REST  FOR  WEARY  PILGRIMS  — 
HOME  AGAIN — FARMING  —  THE  ALMANAC  AND  THE  MOON  —  UNCONSCIOUS 
CLAIRVOYANCE — ODIC  FORCE — FENN'S  LETTER  —  FATHER'S  ADVERSE  OPIN 
ION—STRANGE  OUTCOME  OF  A  RUNAWAY  EPISODE— THREE  LEWIES. 

A  modest  little  steamboat,  with  sleeping-berths  at  the  sides  of  her  cabin, 
paddled  us  in  a  few  days  from  Louisville  to  Pittsburgh,  and  soon  the  canal 
packet  carried  me  to  Johnstown,  Pennsylvania.  There  I  saw  my  first  loco 
motive  (the  only  one  they  had),  used  to  draw  the  cars  on  the  line  "of  the  Por 
tage  Railroad  between  Johnstown  and  the  first  inclined  plane.  It  was  my 
first  trip  over  that  part  of  the  Alleghenies,  and  had  those  charms  of  novelty 
which  we  can  enjoy  but  once.  As  tlje  greatest  engineering  work  in  railroad 
ing  accomplished  up  to  that  time,  the  Allegheny  Portage  Railroad  was  then 
the  distinguished  and  impressive  achievement  of  all  internal  improvement 
in  America.  The  inclined  planes  were  each  half  a  mile  or  more  in  length, 
and  the  passage  up  or  down  (the  cars  being  drawn  up  or  let  down  by  long 
cables)  had  the  gentle  excitement  arising  from  a  sense  of  possible  peril,  and 
the  passengers  were  always  sure  of  a  feeling  of  relief  when  all  were  passed. 
I  am  not  sure  that  the  transit  by  the  old  Portage  road  was  not  more  pleas 
urable  than  the  present  speedier  movement  over  the  mountains.  The  ascent 
or  descent  of  a  plane  was  an  achievement,  and  we  had,  besides,  ample  time 
to  enjoy  the  mountain  scenery,  which  was  thought  to  be  very  grand,  if  not 
sublime  or  magnificent,  before  it  became  customary  to  take  a  run  through 
the  Alps  or  a  glance  at  the  Rocky  Mountains.  We  get  only  glimpses  of  the 
Alleghenies  now,  as  we  are  whirled  around  curves  or  along  tangents  at  the 
rate  of  a  mile  in  a  minute  and  a  half. 

"  This  railroad  is  the  great  feature  of  our  journey,"  said  one  of  the  pas 
sengers,  and  this  remark  at  once  brought  to  me  a  ludicrous  association  of 
ideas  ;  for  in  a  moment  imagination  carried  me  to  the  old  farm-house,  and  I 
was  in  one  of  the  small  rooms  in  the  "lean- to,"  as  when  a  boy,  with  an  old 
comic  picture-book,  containing  the  head  of  a  man  with  a  nose  of  unusual  size, 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  83 

and  beneath  the  portrait  these  punning  lines,  which  I  think  even  Dr.  John 
son  would  have  conceded  to  have  some  merit : 

"  TO  MY  NOSE. 

"  Knows  he,  who  never  took  a  pinch, 

Nosey !  the  pleasure  thence  which  flows? 
Knows  he  the  tittillating  joys 

That  my  nose  knows? 
Oh,  Nose!  I  am  as  proud  of  thee 

As  any  mountain  of  its  snows! 
I  gaze  on  thee,  and  feel  the  pride 

A  Roman  knows ! " 

I  gazed  on  the  mountain  railroad,  and  felt  the  pride,  not  of  a  Roman,  but 
of  a  Pennsylvania]! ;  for  had  we  not  good  right,  forty-six  years  ago,  to  be 
proud  of  our  public  works,  then  unequaled  in  the  western  hemisphere,  and 
the  Portage  Railroad  unequaled  in  the  world?  De  Witt  Clinton's  great 
Erie  Canal  (honor  to  his  name)  reached  the  Lakes  by  a  continuous  water- 
line,  and  the  State  of  New  York  had  not,  like  our  own  peerless  Common 
wealth,  carried  a  highway  for  commerce  over  the  towering  Allegheiiies. 
Pennsylvania,  in  stupendous  works  to  advance  civilization  by  promoting 
cheap  and  speedy  transit,  was  unrivaled. 

Yes  — the  Allegheny  Portage  Railroad  had  its  day  of  glory.  But  some 
thirty  years  ago  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company—soulless  corporation! 
— came  like  a  Vandal  into  the  mountains  and  rudely  snatched  the  diadem 
from  its  brow !  That  Company,  flush  of  money,  and  caring  nothing  for 
memories  or  sentiment,  brought  into  use  their  continuous  grades  over  the 
mountains,  and  our  dear  old  Portage  road,  with  its  grand  inclined  planes, 
its  long  and  faithful  cables,  and  its  ponderous  stationary  engines  (which 
had  been,  I  think,  without  equals  on  the  continent),  was  thrown  aside  for 
ever  !  Iconoclastic  corporation  ! — it  hurled  our  idols  to  destruction ! 

And  what  gave  they  in  return  ?  One  long  tunnel,  where  you  can  see 
nothing  but  the  lights  of  your  car  as  it  creeps  through  the  invisible  dark  ; 
and  out  in  the  daylight  the  "Horseshoe  Curve,"  which  is  pointed  out  to  you 
as  the  proper  thing  for  travelers  to  admire  and  wonder  at !  I  agree  that  the 
Horseshoe  Curve  is  a  very  nice  Curve,  as  the  tracks  climb  up  along  one  side 
of  a  gorge,  swing  round  at  its  head  on  a  short  radius,  and  climb  higher  and 
higher  on  the  other  side  till  lost  round  the  high  point  in  the  westward  dis 
tance  ;  and  the  other  train,  so  high  above,  coming  down  on  the  other  side  of 
the  gorge  as  ours  pants  upward  on  this,  is  a  very  pretty  object  on  a  moun 
tain  slope.  All  this  we  freely  concede,  and  even  own  to  it  that  the  locating 
engineer  has  put  the  Curve  in  exactly  the  right  place  for  such  a  Curve  to 
be;  and  we  will  go  further  and  insist  that  the  mountain  was  evidently 
shaped  by  Nature  with  no  other  purpose  than  to  provide  a  location  for  the 
Horse-shoe  Curve. 

But  lo !  this  once  famous  Horse-Shoe  Curve  is  no  longer  a  special  won- 


84  NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

der.  The  Mule-Shoe  Curve  at  the  Veta  Pass  011  the  Denver  aud  Rio  Grande 
Railroad  in  Colorado  is  in  the  engineering  skill  and  constructive  daring 
diplayed,  a  much  more  wonderful  achievement  than  the  Pennsylvania 
curve ;  five  or  six  times  as  high  above  sea  level,  and  with  its  track  in  many 
parts  cut  out  of  the  almost  vertical  face  of  the  rock,  along  precipices  where 
you  are  giddy  if  you  look  down  from  the  window  of  the  narrow  gauge  car, 
and  in  the  midst  of  mountains  compared  with  which  the  Alleghenies  are 
but  insignificant  hills  !  And  away  in  Peru  they  have  a  railroad  built  by  a 
California?!  (Henry  Meigs  his  name)  with  still  more  stupendous  works  than 
the  Pennsylvania  road,  or  the  Colorado  road  ;  climbing,  if  I  recollect  rightly, 
three  or  four  thousand  feet  higher  above  sea  level  than  even  the  line  over 
the  Veta  Pass,  and  spanning  gorges  apparently  bottomless,  in  the  midst  of 
a  wilderness  of  mountains,  surpassing  in  height  and  sublimity  those  of  Col 
orado  as  far  as  the  Colorado  mountains  surpass  those  of  Pennsylvania ! 
No— no :  the  Horse-shoe  Curve,  which  thirty  years  ago  usurped  the  admira 
tion  and  the  wonder  theretofore  bestowed  on  the  Allegheny  Portage  Rail 
road,  has  come  to  condign  retribution,  and  holds  its  prestige  110  longer,  save 
for  the  untraveled  and  unknowing,  and  for  those  genuine  Pennsylvaiiians 
who  adhere  to  the  ancient  faith,  repelling  with  scorn  the  averment  that  any 
part  of  earth  equals  in  anything  their  own  glorious  old  Commonwealth ! 
To  them  comparisons  are  indeed  odious,  and  hence  I  spare  mention  (except 
sotto  voce  in  your  ear,  My  Friend,)  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  sur 
mounting  the  Sierra  Nevada,  and  eclipsing  any  Allegheny  road  that  can 
possibly  be  built ;  and  I  forbear  allusion  (except  in  confidence,  and  not  to  be 
divulged  in  my  dear  native  State)  to  the  tunnels  perforating  the  Alps,  or 
those  cork-screw  tracks  underground,  which  in  the  Alps  and  also  on  C.  P. 
Huntingdon's  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  at  Tehachapa,  wind  their  occult 
way  upward,  like  the  coils  of  a  serpent,  lapping  over  their  own  lines,  and 
each  emerging  into  day-light  (as  I  have  little  doubt  the  great  original  of  all 
serpent  forms  emerged  into  Mother  Eve's  orchard)  hundreds  of  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  spot  where  it  disappeared  in  the  mountain  side.  I  am  obli 
vious  of  all  these  ;  for  why  disparage,  by  uncivil  contrasts,  the  local  wonders 
in  which  the  people  of  the  good  old  State  take  so  much  pride  and  enjoy  so 
much  pleasure  ? 

Sad  indeed  it  is  that  our  old  Pennsylvania  wonders  are  doomed  to  the 
chill  umbrage  of  later  achievements  ;  but  the  truth  cannot  pass  away  that 
Pennsylvania  was  the  intelligent  and  courageous  leader  in  building  rail 
roads  oil  and  over  mountains ;  and  the  memory  of  her  enlightened  and  skill 
ful  engineers  should  be  cherished  while  her  valleys  and  mountains  remain, 
even  though  their  great  works  be  superseded  by  later  achievements,  due  to 
the  advancement  of  art  and  science,  and  the  power  of  accumulated  capital. 
William  Milnor  Roberts,  whose  recent  death  in  Brazil  is  lamented  by  the 
profession  and  all  who  knew  him,  executed,  if  he  did  not  design,  the  Alle 
gheny  Portage  Railroad,  having  begun  his  field  labors  as  one  of  the  first 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  TEARS.  85 

body  of  engineers  who  ascended  the  valley  of  the  Juniata,  surveying  the 
line  of  the  old  canal ;  and  in  a  professional  career  of  more  than  half  a  cen 
tury,  whether  on  canals  or  railroads,  bridges  or  tunnels,  rivers  or  harbors, 
proved  himself  equal  to  every  demand  upon  his  abilities,  leaving  his 
mark  upon  many  of  the  greatest  works  of  both  continents  of  America.  He 
was  associated  with  Mr.  Eads  in  solving  the  difficult  problems  of  the  unri 
valled  St.  Louis  Bridge ;  was  selected  by  President  Grant  in  1874  as  one  of 
the  Mixed  Commission  of  Engineers  to  determine  the  best  mode  of  im 
proving  the  Mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Eads  served 
as  a  member  of  the  Advissory  Board  of  Engineers  on  the  South  Pass  Jetties. 
Chosen  by  Dom  Pedro  from  the  world's  circle  of  engineers  to  act  as  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Brazilian  Empire,  his  eyes  were  closed  in  the  scene  of  his 
latest  labors.  John  Bogart,  the  accomplished  Secretary  of  the  American 
Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  will  give  the  literature  of  the  Profession  a 
Memoir  of  this  remarkable  man,  who  was  at  once  an  honor  to  his  calling 
and  to  our  native  land.  For  myself,  I  mourn  the  loss  of  a  personal  friend 
and  correspondent ;  a  man  of  many  virtues  and  no  vices  ;  distinguished  by 
ability  in  his  works,  and  beloved  for  his  moral  worth.  No  more  his  com 
pendious  and  suggestive  letters  from  under  the  Southern  Cross ;  soon,  how 
ever  to  be  needed  no  more,  as  we  will  all  be  gone  to  th^  inevitable,  of  which 
Montgomery  tells  us : 

"  There  is  a  calm  for  those  who  weep, 
A  rest  for  weary  pilgrims  found; 
They  softly  lie  and  sweetly  sleep, 
Low  in  the  ground." 

At  length  I  was  home  again— on  the  farm.  It  was  the  same  old  familiar 
farm,  but  the  lane  where  I  used  to  put  the  white-faced  colt  to  his  speed  was 
strangely  shortened,  and  the  fields  had  all  contracted  their  dimensions. 
The  river,  too,  seemed  absurdly  shrunken,  and  could  hardly  be  the  same 
river  I  had  always  known.  The  streets  of  Lewistown  had  scarce  half  the 
length  they  had  a  year  and  a  half  before,  and  the  houses  had  lost  in  height 
and  dignity.  The  ridge  behind  the  farm,  so  recently  almost  a  mountain, 
was  but  a  hill  that  a  child  might  climb.  Illusions  all,  and  the  change  only 
in  my  own  more  experienced  vision.  Involuntarily  the  mind  compared  the 
well-known  objects  with  those  of  greater  length  and  width  and  height  to 
which  it  had  during  absence  been  accustomed  ;  just  as  in  subsequent  years, 
after  I  had  seen  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the  Alleghanies  were  dwarfed  to 
respectable  hills. 

But  what  was  I  to  get  at?  To  what  employment  devote  myself? 
Father  suggested  the  law  ;  I  could  borrow  books  from  a  lawyer  in  town  and 
read  at  home.  He  would  provide  food,  raiment,  shelter.  It  was  a  kind,  lib 
eral  offer.  But  the  legal  profession  in  Pennsylvania  was  then  jealous  of  its 
dignity,  and  did  not  readily  admit  new  comers.  They  must  be  as  nearly  as 
possible  qualified  for  the  duties  of  the  profession  before  entering  it,  and  to 
this  end  must  study  three  years.  This  seemed  to  me  a  long  time,  and  besides 


86  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

I  distrusted  my  own  abilities.  My  pitiful  lack  of  vanity  and  self-esteem, 
those  most  important  elements  of  character  for  youth  to  be  blessed  with, 
•  caused  me  to  doubt  even  my  fitness  for  the  law !  Nor  did  I  care  to  resume 
Franklin's  trade,  in  which  I  had  made  so  little  advance  towards  distinc 
tion.  So  I  decided  to  discard  all  ambitious  thoughts  and  come  down  to  work 
not  beyond  my  abilities.  I  would  be  a  farmer. 

Well — I  farmed,  but  not  long.  Somehow  the  work  did  not  seem  to  be  as 
easy  and  pleasant  as  it  was  four  years  before.  The  first  day  I  plowed  in  a 
stony  field,  and  the  plow  handles  jarred  rudely  against  my  hands  and  hurt 
them.  They  felt  sore  at  night.  The  next  day  I  changed  work,  and  hauled 
some  rails  to  make  a  piece  of  new  fence.  The  third  day  I  was  about  to  begin 
building  the  fence,  when  on  consulting  the  almanac  it  was  found  to  be  the 
wrong  time  to  set  fence  corners,  as  we  were  in  the  dark  of  the  moon,  and  it 
would  have  been  little  short  of  insanity  to  make  fence.  We  had  faith  in 
the  Almanac,  and  it  was  well  known  that  if  the  corners  of  a  "  worm  fence  " 
are  set  in  the  dark  of  the  moon  they  will  settle  into  the  ground,  but  if  set  in 
the  light  of  the  moon  will  remain  on  the  surface.  Hence  the  importance  of 
conforming  to  lunar  conditions.  In.  planting,  the  same  care  is  requisite. 
Things  which  mature  their  products  above  ground,  such  as  wheat,  corn,  peas, 
beans,  pumpkins,  etc.,  must  always  be  planted  in  the  light  of  the  moon,  to 
make  a  good  yield  ;  while  potatoes,  parsnips,  beets,  artichokes,  and  things 
of  like  habits,  which  make  underground,  must  be  planted  in  the  dark  of  the 
moon,  or  your  labor  will  be  lost.  Nothing  could  be  more  simple  or  more 
rational  in  its  way  than  our  faith  in  the  influence  of  the  moon ;  and  we  had 
better  fences  and  better  crops,  paying  always  due  regard  to  the  moon,  and 
planting  by  the  "  signs  "  of  the  Almanac  (which  always  concurred  with  a 
good  time  to  put  in  seed)  than  the  fences  and  crops  of  the  farmers  in  the 
same  region  now,  who  in  their  stupidity  do  not  value  the  Almanac,  and 
work  along  in  a  hap-hazard  sort  of  way  without  any  reference  to  the  moon 
at  all. 

The  moon  not  being  in  the  right  phase  for  fence  building  I  took  my  plow 
to  a  field  free  of  stones,  where  nothing  would  cause  it  to  jar  and  hurt  my 
hands.  But  as  I  trudged  the  furrow  back  arid  forth,  I  began  to  doubt 
whether  farming  was  after  all  the  best  calling  for  me  to  get  a  living  at,  and 
by  noon  doubt  was  pretty  well  resolved  into  certainty.  When  about  to 
begin  the  afternoon's  work,  and  with  lagging  legs  continue  to  trudge  after 
the  noble  instrument  which  the  Emperor  of  China  goes  into  the  field  once  a 
year  to  hold  for  an  hour,  in  order  to  shed  dignity  on  Agriculture  as  the 
foundation  industry— an  impression  came  upon  me  that  there  was  a  letter 
for  me  in  the  post-office.  I  had  not  been  thinking  of  or  expecting  any  letter, 
but  the  conviction  was  strong  and  definite  that  the  letter  (which  I  seemed 
to  actually  see)  was  there  in  the  pigeon-hole,  and  that  I  ought  to  go  or  send 
and  get  it.  My  brother  David,  then  at  home,  cheerfully  agreed  to  go  for  the 
letter;  but  I  was  so  much  occupied  in  imagining  who  it  could  be  from  that  I 
followed  the  plow  like  an  automaton  and  forgot  even  the  fatigue  which  had 


NOTES   TAKLN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  87 

in  the  forenoon  prompted  my  revolt  against  farm  life.  To  account  for  the 
singular  impression  and  conviction  in  regard  to  the  letter  scientifically,  I 
might  suggest  that  it  was  possibly  due  to  unconscious  clairvoyance.  There 
had  about  that  time  been  a  great  deal  said  and  printed  on  the  subject  of 
animal  magnetism,  though  not  so  much  of  clairvoyance  as  at  a  later  date  ; 
and  many  amateur  Mesmers  were  practicing  the  art  of  putting  people  to 
sleep  by  the  joint  exertion  of  manipulation  and  will  power.  So,  in  account 
ing  for  an  unaccountable  occurrence,  I  may  suggest  that  there  was  then  In 
action  so  much  of  what  the  French  savants  call  "  Odic  Force,"  that  the 
earth  and  air  had  become  conductors  or  transmitters  of  it,  and  that  a  man  of 
positive  character  and  strong  will,  having  written  a  letter  that  he  wished 
to  have  responded  to  promptly,  might  have  exercised  (even  unconsciously  • 
an  Odic  influence  which  reached  the  intended  recipient  of  his  epistle  in 
advance  of  the  regular  mail.  If  this  explanation  seems  more  difficult  to 
comprehend  that  the  matter  explained,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  such 
is  often  the  case  when  "  scientists  "  undertake  to  account  by  theories  for 
unexplainable  facts.  Nothing  is  more  stubborn  than  facts,  and  it  is  some 
times  impossible  to  reconcile  them  with  the  most  plausible  and  reasonable 
theories  ever  invented. 

But  whatever  the  proper  solution  of  the  mystery  may  be,  the  fact  was, 
that  the  letter  was  there  in  the  pigeon-hole.  It  was  from  Theophilus  Fenn, 
editor  of  the  Harrisburg  Telegraph,  stating  that  he  had  heard  of  my  return 
to  civilization  from  the  wild  west,  and  inviting  me  to  take  editorial  charge 
of  his  paper  for  a  few  weeks  while  he  would  visit  relatives  in  Connecticut. 
A  greater  surprise  can  hardly  be  imagined,  and  I  handed  it  to  Father  for 
his  perusal. 

"  I— I— absolutely !"— laughing  heartily—  "  I— I— absolutely !" 

"  Well,"  I  inquired — "  what  are  you  laughing  at?" 

"  I'm  laughing  at  Feiiu.  I've  always  thought  him  a  blackguard  in  his 
paper,  but  I  never  thought  him  a  fool.  I — I — absolutely !" 

"I  don't  see  why  you  think  him  a  fool.  I  see  nothing  wrong  in  the 
letter." 

"Of  course  he's  a  fool,  to  think  you  could  edit  the  Telegraph.  It's  ab 
surd.  A  chap  like  you,  editing  a  paper  at  the  capital  of  the  Commonwealth ! 
I  never  heard  the  like.  I — I — absolutely  !" 

"  Well,  I  can  try,  I  suppose." 

"  Now,  that's  egregious  nonsense.  You'd  fail,  and  regret  it  all  your  life. 
Don't  be  perverse,  but  begin  the  study  of  the  law  at  once." 

This  was  good  advice,  like  his  former  advice  to  "  put  plenty  of  brains  "  in 
the  old  Gazette  ;  but  it  seemed  almost  as  hard  to  follow,  as  the  three  years 
of  study  required  for  admission  to  the  bar  seemed  an  interminable  time.  So 
I  told  him  I  would  go,  if  I  had  passage  money,  and  after  a  good  deal  of  dis 
cussion  he  gave  a  hesitating  assent,  and  arrangements  were  made  for  my 
departure.  But  my  good  father  had  not  the  serene  confidence  in  my  future 


88  NOTES   TAKEX   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

which  Dr.  Primrose  had  in  that  of  his  son  Moses,  when  he  set  off  to  sell  the 
horse  at  the  fair. 

That  I  should  have  run  away  from  Bellefonte  in  March,  then  enlist  in 
Pittsburgh  as  a  Texas  emigrant,  and  after  deserting  at  Louisville  and  spend 
ing  some  weeks  there  as  a  jour,  printer,  should  in  Jvne  be  summoned  from 
the  farm  to  undertake  the  editorship  of  the  central  state  organ  of  the  party, 
was  certainly  a  strange  series  of  events ;  and  when  I  reflect  011  the  concate 
nation  of  circumstances  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  parts  at  least  of  Baron 
Munchausen's  wonderful  narrations  may  have  been  truer  than  we  used  to 
consider  them.  On  the  21st  day  of  June,  1837, 1  arrived  in  Harrisburg  with 
"  three  bits,"  or  37£  cents  in  my  pocket,  exactly  the  sum  I  had  on  the  memo 
rable  first  of  April  when  I  boarded  the  Constellation  at  Pittsburgh  as  an 
emigrant  to  Texas  ;  but  why  Pittsburgh  should  have  an  h  at  the  end  of  it, 
and  Harrisburg  get  along  very  well  without  it,  I  have  never  been  able  to 
find  out. 

As  to  hard  money,  the  coin  rating  at  12J  cents  was  an  "eleven-penny 
bit  "  in  Pennsylvania,  or  by  usage  a  "  levvy,"  while  it  was  a  bit  in  the  west 
and  south.  The  coin  rating  at  6£  cents  was  with  us  a  u  five-penny  bit," 
reduced  by  usage  to  "fippeny  bit,"  or  for  short  a  "fip,"  while  in  New 
Orleans  and  the  west  it  was  a  "  picayune,"  and  so  far  as  I  know  is  the  only 
coin  that  ever  gave  a  name  to  a  daily  newspaper.  The  "  New  Orleans  Pica 
yune"  was  named  after  the  coin  it  was  first  sold  for,  and  was  the  pioneer 
in  cheap  journals  in  the  south ;  though  Kendall,  Holbrook  and  the  two 
Fields  (Matthew  C.  and  Joseph  M.)  got  out  a  paper  well  worth  a  "  bit." 
The  journal  they  started  so  well  is  alive  and  vigorous  yet,  though  sold  for  a 
half  dime,  or  "nickel;"  but  the  name  would  hardly  do  as  the  "New 
Orleans  Nickel." 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  89 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

IN  HARKISBURG — MR.  FENN'S  INSTRUCTIONS — BEAUTIFULLY  SIMPLE  SYSTEM — 
INDEPENDENT  TREASURY  —  A  VIGOROUS  EDITORIAL  —  GALLANTING  AND 
SHIFTING — THE  CARPENTER  AND  HIS  LADDER — ESSAY  ON  LADDERS — A 
PROPHETIC  THOUGHT— AT  THE  CASE— COLONIAL  RECORDS— SMALL  POTA 
TOES  —  HISTORY  TRACED  FROM  THE  START  —  ANOTHER  PAPER  WANTED— 
IN  COLLEGE  AND  A  LESSON  IN  FINANCE — CONSULTING  THE  SECRETARY  OF 
THE  COMMONWEALTH  — AN  EDITOR  AGAIN  —  FITZPATRICK'S  REMARK — 
RHETORIC  STUDIED  —  QUEER  REFLECTIONS  —  METEMPSYCHOSIS  —  A  BIG 
SOUL  FOR  THE  EDITOR— A  LITTLE  ONE  FOR  THE  CRITIC. 

On  my  arrival  in  Harrisburg  Mr.  Fenn  left.  His  principal  instruction 
to  me  as  hia  substitute  was,  never  to  explain  or  defend  anything,  but  to 
persistently  assail  the  other  party.  "  Never  let  them  get  you  on  the  defen 
sive,  but  always  carry  the  war  into  Africa,"  were  his  parting  words.  As  I 
was  not  well  versed  in  classical  literature,  I  did  not  know  what  carrying 
the  war  Into  Africa  meant,  or  understand  the  allusion  contained  in  the 
expression,  but  thought  it  intended  to  signify  that  our  political  foes  were 
like  ignorant  barbarians  and  ought  to  be  pitched  into.  In  due  time  the 
Telegraph,  a  weekly,  came  out,  and  but  a  few  days  had  elapsed  when  I 
received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Fenn,  who  was  among  his  folks  at  Weathersfield, 
complimenting  me  very  highly  on  the  spirit  and  ability  with  which  I  was 
conducting  his  journal.  My  selections  pleased  him,  and  he  was  delighted, 
he  wrote,  with  the  freshness,  boldness  and  vigor  displayed  in  my  editorials, 
and  hoped  I  would  continue  to  charge  upon  the  "  locofocos  "  as  we  called 
the  democrats,  all  sorts  of  iniquities.  Our  system  of  conducting  political 
warfare  was  indeed  beautifully  simple,  consisting  mainly  of  charges, 
whether  true  or  not,  hurled  at  the  opposite  party,  with  occasional  gross 
aspersions  of  individuals. 

The  main  subject  of  dispute  between  the  two  parties  was  the  manage 
ment  of  the  United  States  Treasury.  The  democrats  had  brought  forward 
their  scheme  of  an  "Independent  Treasury  :  " — to  collect  and  disburse  all 
public  moneys  in  gold  and  sil  ver  coin ;  to  use  no  bank  paper  in  govern 
ment  transactions  ;  and  to  keep  all  public  treasure  in  depositories  or  "  sub- 
treasuries,"  organized,  directed  and  controlled  by  officers  of  the  United 


90  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEAKS. 

States.  It  was  the  Treasury  system  that  has  since  been  so  many  years  in 
successful  operation.  But- the  whigs  assailed  the  scheme  with  all  the 
strength  and  bitterness  we  could  command.  It  is  not  worth  while  to  re 
state  any  of  our  arguments  and  assumptions,  except  to  say  in  general  terms, 
that  we  held  up  the  Independent  Treasury  scheme  as  designed  to  enrich 
the  officeholders  and  make  them  independent  of  the  people  !  And  I  remem 
ber  that  one  of  my  articles  in  the  Telegraph  with  the  flaring  head — "GOLD 
AND  SILVER  for  the  OFFICEHOLDERS  and  BANK  RAGS  for  the  PEOPLE!" 
was  considered  to  have  in  this  striking  title  an  epitome  of  the  whole  case, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  force  and  vigor  with  which  the  body  of  the  article 
discussed  the  great  question  !  In  the  elegant  language  of  modern  youth, 
"  It  was  bully,  you  bet !  An'  don't  you  forget  it !  " 

We  did  not  at  any  time  spare  the  federal  officeholders,  but  poured  on 
them  floods  of  abuse,  in  all  the  terms  of  obloquy  at  our  command ;  and 
strangers  reading  our  whig  journals  would  have  supposed  the  United  States, 
under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  to  be  in  the  grasp  of  the  most 
shameless  scoundrels  on  earth.  Nor  were  the  democratic  editors  backward 
in  replies.  If  they  did  not  return  in  full  all  they  received,  they  at  least 
gave  us  the  best  they  had,  and  with  a  will  as  earnest  and  as  little  restrained 
by  scruples  of  conscience  as  our  own.  If  I  might  for  once  use  slang  I  would 
say  "  it  was  dog  eat  dog  ;  "  and  I  could  be  amused,  if  I  did  not  feel  emotions 
of  disgust,  when  I  look  back  at  our  venomous  controversies,  especially  in 
the  Pennsylvania  papers.  I  wonder  now  that  a  higher  and  better  order  of 
discussion  was  not  demanded  by  the  people.  There  was  certainly  but  little 
of  statesmanship,  and  less  of  dignity,  in  our  treatment  of  the  great  interests 
of  the  country,  or  of  our  own  State.  But  I  knew  no  better.  I  was  only  an 
uneducated,  uncultivated,  country-bred  youth  of  twenty  years,  called  by  a 
curious  chance  to  the  editorial  charge  of  a  paper  at  the  seat  of  the  state 
government.  If  I  could  enjoy  the  self-esteem  others  are  gifted  with,  I 
might  reflect  with  self-exaltation  on  the  fact  that  I  was  able  to  sustain  myself 
at  all. 

During  my  six  summer  weeks  of  service  as  Mr  Fenn's  proxy,  my  days 
were  given  to  the  editorial  office  and  my  evenings  mainly  spent  in  "  gal 
lanting  young  ladies,"  as  the  phrase  ran  then  ;  taking  twilight  walks  with 
a  bevy  of  charmers  along  the  beautiful  banks  of  the  Susquehanna,  which 
not  being  a  navigable  stream  except  for  rafts  of  lumber  in  freshets,  had 
shores  undesecrated  by  commerce.  Sometimes  we  went  skifting  on  the 
water,  when  the  girls  would  sing  the  good  old  meaningful  and  sentimental 
songs,  with  a  new  one  by  Arthur  T.  Lea,  a  young  lieutenant  in  the  army 
beginning : 

"  Come  gaze  on  us  now  with  the  moon,  love, 
And  list  to  our  voices  in  tune,  love, — 
Oh,  haste  thee,  arise  now,  for  soon,  love, 

We'll  be  borne  by  the  swift  stream  away  1 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  91 

O'er  us  the  bright  stars  are  peeping, 
Around  us  the  night  winds  are  sweeping, 
The  waves  011  the  dark  shore  are  leaping 
As  lit  by  the  moon's  silver  ray!" 

As  we  were  not  hypercritical,  we  enjoyed  this  song  immensely,  although 
the  Susquehanua,  in  low  water,  was  not  swift,  nor  the  shores  dark  when  a 
good  moon  was  beaming,  nor  the  night  winds  sweeping  very  strongly  when 
we  went  skifting.  We  generally  closed  our  evenings  at  the  modest  ice 
cream  parlors  of  Mrs.  Burbeck,  where  my  week's  wage  disappeared  in  a 
pleasant  and  refreshing  way.  All  very  foolish,  perhaps,  My  Aged  Friend, 
but  very  innocent,  and  very  delightful  to  a  youth  of  twenty ;  and  I  admit 
that  it  was  not  "  business,"  nor  likely  to  promote  one's  pecuniary  success, 
even  though  it  tended  to  cherish  the  finer  sentiments  and  smooth  the 
manners.  It  was  not  copying  Dr.  Franklin  at  all. 

I  noticed  one  day,  directly  across  the  street,  the  skill  and  rapidity  with 
which  a  young  carpenter  was  re-shingling  a  building.  He  seemed  to 
pick  up  the  right  shingle  to  fit  every  time,  and  it  was  hardly  in  place 
before  the  nails  were  through  it,  and  another  in  hand.  I  soon  after  made 
his  acquaintance  at  the  Hope  Fire  Company's  engine  house,  on  joining  the 
company,  and  we  were  both  on  a  committee  which  recommended  the  estab 
lishment  of  water  works  by  using  a  steam  engine  to  force  water  from  the 
river  to  Capitol  hill,  instead  of  a  canal  as  previously  suggested  by  'Squire 
Ayres  and  Lawyer  Krause.  Our  recommendation  was  adopted  by  the 
"  Burgesses,"  and  the  system  is  in  use  yet.  The  carpenter  had  been  study 
ing  law  in  the  evenings  (when  I  was  enjoying  the  society  of  young  ladies) 
and  during  the  next  winter  was  legislative  correspondent  of  the  Phila 
delphia  Inquirer,  Jasper  Harding's  paper,  then  edited  by  Robert  Morris,  a 
descendant,  I  think,  of  the  old  Revolutionary  Treasurer.  Starting  as  a 
lawyer,  my  carpenter  crony  became  in  time  Clerk  of  the  State  House  of 
of  Representatives,  Member  of  Congress,  Governor  by  appointment  of  a 
Territory,  Governor  by  election  of  a  State,  Senator  in  Congress,  and  Cabinet 
Minister.  He  always  put  the  right  shingle  in  the  right  place,  and  drove  the 
nail  promptly.  His  name  is  Alexander  Ramsey. 

Mr.  Ramsey  is  what  is  called  a  "self-made  man,"  having  had  few 
advantages  in  schools,  and  no  powerful  friends  (except  his  ability  to  "  talk 
Dutch  "  in  Dauphin  county)  to  start  him  in  life,  but  having  to  start  himself 
and  gain  his  friends  as  he  went  along.  But  all  men  who  achieve  distinc 
tion  are  "self-made."  Some  are  aided  by  friends  or  circumstances,  and 
thus  find  the  ladder  ready  to  their  hands  ;  but  they  must  nevertheless  grasp 
the  rungs  and  exert  their  own  powers  in  order  to  climb.  Others  must  con 
struct  their  own  ladders,  and  then  work  their  way  up.  The  ladder  was 
ready  for  William  Pitt,  but  his  own  labors  gave  him  position  at  the  top. 
No  ladder  was  provided  for  James  B.  Eads,  but  he  hustled  round,  made 
a  very  tall  one  for  himself,  and  has  climbed  to  the  uppermost  rung.  Some 


92  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

who  are  born  with  ladders  all  ready  never  try  to  climb.  Thousands,  born 
ladderless,  vainly  construct  and  climb,  but  never  get  above  the  first  rung, 
if  they  get  to  that.  I  have  often  had  a  short  ladder  raised,  and  got  up  a 
few  rungs,  just  high  enough  to  look  about  me  a  little,  when  snap  would 
go  the  rung  and  down  I  would  come.  I  am  now  too  old  ever  to  do  much 
climbing,  but  if  by  some  unusual  good  fortune  I  should  get  an  opportunity 
to  "  catch  on  "  again,  I  shall  pull  the  ladder  up  after  me  to  show  how  often 
I  have  had  to  mend  the  broken  rungs. 

One  evening  during  my  proxy  editorship  I  entered  the  parlor  of  Kelker's 
old-fashioned  hotel  across  the  street  to  visit  Miss  Hose,  the  beautiful 
daughter  of  the  host,  and  found  eight  other  young  ladies  present,  among 
them  two  sisters  whom  I  then  saw  for  the  first  time.  Seated  across  the 
room  from  me,  they  were  in  a  group  of  gir]s,  chatting  pleasantly,  the  tallest 
of  the  two  sisters  apparently  leading  the  conversation.  As  I  looked  at 
them  the  distinct  thought  presented  itself— "  that  tallest  girl  will  make  a 
good  wife  for  somebody  some  day."  I  was  not  looking  out  for  girls  that 
would  make  good  wives  ;  nor  was  I  then  very  well  qualified  to  judge  of  the 
probabilities;  and  I  never  could  account  for  that  prophetic  thought,  the 
like  of  which  had  never  occurred  to  me  respecting  any  other  young  lady. 
If  a  premonition,  or  a  mere  chance  guess,  it  was  an  amazingly  correst  esti 
mate,  as  proved  by  events  not  then  dreamed  of. 

On  Mr.  Fenn's  return  my  occupation  as  proxy  editor  ceased,  and  I 
quietly  took  my  '  case '  as  a  jour,  printer.  Pennsylvania  was  then  having 
her  Colonial  Records  printed,  and  the  quaint  language  and  curious  details 
of  the  old  councils,  (followed  with  great  particularity,  abbreviations  and 
all,  in  the  pages  we  were  '  setting  up,')  were  entertaining  enough  to  pay 
us  for  the  bother  we  often  had  with  the  queer  types  used  to  reproduce  the 
Records,  which  we  were  printing  from  the  first  days  of  the  Provincial  Gov 
ernment.  Many  passages  showed  that  the  elders  of  the  Commonwealth 
had  been  but  men,  with  passions,  envies,  and  jealousies  like  our  own; 
and  when  Henry  Guiter  saia  to  us — "Boys,  don't  you  think  the  old  Colo 
nials  were  mighty  small  potatoes,  considering  the  freshness  of  the  soil?" — 
we  responded  with  unanimous  assent,  and  declared  with  great  originality 
and  force,  that  "  human  nature  is  much  the  same  at  all  times  and  every 
where."  But  it  was  some  comfort  to  know  that  the  State  could  trace  her 
history  authentically  from  the  beginning,  and  in  doing  so  give  the  jour, 
printers  a  *  job '  during  the  vacation  of  the  legislature.  Then  we  told  each 
other  that  the  Americans  were  the  only  great  people  on  earth  who  can  tell 
their  own  story  from  the  start — a  remark  I  afterwards  found  in  Graham's 
History  of  the  United  States. 

As  the  summer  wore  away  I  began  to  feel  ambitious  to  have  again  a 
paper  of  my  own,  and  was  negotiating  with  George  W.  Phillips  for  the 
Carlisle  Herald.  Having  visited  that  quiet  and  genteel  old  town  to  look  at 
the  "  office,"  I  went  to  college  for  the  first  time  in  my  life ;  that  is,  I  called 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY   YEARS.  93 

at  Dickinson  College  (named  after  old  John,  of  Revolutionary  memory)  to 
see  a  Mend  from  Lewistovvn,  about  my  own  age,  a  student  there.  I  only 
remained  half  an  hour,  and  did  not  even  see  the  President  of  the  College, 
the  eloquent  Dr.  Durbin  ;  but  I  learned  a  lesson  in  finance,  not  yet  forgotten, 
as  my  friend  borrowed  twenty  dollars  that  I  had  saved  of  my  wages  as  a 
jour,  printer,  and  has  not  yet  paid  it  back.  Returning  to  Harrisburg,  in 
tending  to  buy  the  Herald  on  credit,  I  called  to  consult  Thomas  H.  Burrowes, 
Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth,  on  the  subject,  when  he  told  me  not  to 
leave  the  seat  of  government,  and  I  should  be  put  in  as  editor  of  the  Intel 
ligencer,  the  other  whig  organ  of  Governor  Ritner's  administration.  This 
arrangement  was  made,  and  during  the  winter  I  was  editor  and  legislative 
reporter  at  a  salary  of  fifteen  dollars  a  week.  The  papers  of  Harrisburg 
were  then  published  tri.weekly  or  semi-weekly  (I  forget  which)  during  the 
sessions  of  the  Legislature,  and  weekly  during  the  rest  of  the  year;  but 
the  salaries,  like  the  merits  of  the  papers,  did  not  reach  high  figures. 

To  Mr.  Burrowes  the  Pennsylvanians  owe  the  systematic  organization 
of  their  Common  School  system,  during  the  term  of  Joseph  Ritner  as  Gov 
ernor,  from  1835  to  1838.  Thomas  had  a  strong  mind  which  had  been  well 
cultivated,  and  as  he  was  both  fond  and  proud  of  the  schools,  he  labored 
with  remarkable  energy  and  industry  to  promote  their  success ;  giving  at 
the  same  time  a  large  share  of  attention  to  the  party  measures  intended  to 
secure  Mr.  Ritner's  reelection.  Granting  that  the  school  system  is  a  good 
thing,  the  people  of  the  state  ought  to  hold  in  honor  the  memory  of  Mr. 
Burrowes  ;  but  he  will  soon  be  forgotten,  as  we  have  so  many  men  who  are 
really  great  that  we  cannot  remember  them  all.  As  poor  wandering  Fitz- 
patrick,  with  unsettled  mind,  on  happening  to  enter  one  of  the  Harrisburg 
churches  during  a  funeral  service,  and  finding  the  seats  all  full,  said  in  a 
tone  of  sadness — "  There's  too  many  of  us  here  !" 

I  am  under  singular  obligations  to  Thomas  H.  Burrowes.  Unknown  to 
himself,  he  was  my  preceptor  in  rhetoric.  Not  that  I  knew  what  rhetoric 
was,  for  I  believe  I  did  not  know  the  meaning  of  the  word  till  1839,  when  I 
chanced  to  take  up  Blair's  Lectures  011  Rhetoric,  in  the  State  Library,  and 
was  greatly  pleased  to  find  that  I  had  been  writing  in  accordance  with  his 
precepts  without  having  known  of  their  existence.  I  had  admired  the 
clear,  forcible  and  elegant  style  of  Mr.  Burrowes,  and  had  tried  to  write  in 
the  same  effective  and  attractive  manner.  They  have  made  new  books  on 
rhetoric  since,  but  I  am  not  sure  that  the  student  has  gained  by  them.  I 
never  think  of  rhetoric  now,  but  just  write  on  as  what  I  suppose  to  be  ideas 
present  themselves,  solicitous  only  to  dress  them  in  the  scantiest  possible 
drapery  of  words,  but  happy  as  a  boy  blowing  soap  bubbles  when  I  chance 
to  hit  on  what  Professor  Waterhouse,  of  St.  Louis,  who  writes  so  well, 
would  style  "  unexpected  felicity  of  phrase." 

It  was  queer  that  a  raw  youth  of  twenty  should  have  been  considered  fit 
for  the  positions  I  was  placed  in,  and  queer,  too,  that  I  should  myself  always 


94  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

have  had  a  sort  of  *  inner  consciousness '  that  I  was  not  fit  for  them.  I 
would  wonder  sometimes,  in  musing  moods,  if  all  was  leal,  and  not  a  fan 
tastic  and  unsubstantial  series  of  fancied  events,  and  it  would  seem  as  if  it 
was  not  me,  but  some  double  of  myself,  who  was  figuring  there  as  an  editor, 
without  complaint  or  objection  from  any  one.  And  not  less  queer  it  was, 
that  I  never  had  any  feeling  of  elation  or  self-consequence,  so  natural  to 
youth,  and  that  all  the  sense  of  importance  which  I  enjoyed  when  my  name 
was  first  at  the  head  of  the  old  Gazette  as  editor  and  proprietor  had  faded 
out.  I  rather  looked  upon  myself  as  the  most  insignificant  figure  of  the 
pageant,  that  could  be  dropped  out  at  any  time  and  never  missed ;  and  after 
all,  this  may  be  a  safe  way  to  look  at  things  even  now.  Yet  in  my  editorial 
identity  I  was  pretty  well  up  to  the  level  of  those  about  me,  however  inade 
quately  my  other  identity  appreciated  myself.  Three  or  four  years  later  I 
wrote  a  story  for  Graham's  Magazine,  then  a  prominent  Monthly,  turning 
on  the  doctrine  of  Metempsychosis,  or  Transmigration  of  Souls,  but  it  had 
never  occurred  to  me  that  in  their  migrations  two  souls  might  have  hap 
pened  to  get  into  my  one  body  :  a  big  soul  for  the  editor,  and  a  little  soul 
or  the  depreciative  critic ! 


THE  EDITOR. 

(St.  Louis  Revielle,  1845.) 

Sit!— Sit!— Sit!— 

From  matin  hour  till  twilight  gloom, 
He's  a  fixture  there  in  his  dusky  room! — 

Away  the  moments  flit, 
And  the  world  outside,  with  joyous  din, 
Moves  gaily  on— but  the  world  within 

Is  labor,  and  toil,  and  care ! 
No  turn  knows  he  in  the  weary  day 
But  the  turn  that  shows  the  pivot's  play 

As  he  turns  his  easy  chair ! 

Write !— Write !— Write  !— 
Though  fancy  soar  on  a  tired  wing 
She  must  still  her  tribute  celestial  bring, 

Nor  own  a  weary  flight ! 
And  reason's  powers  and  memory's  store 
Must  prove  their  strength,  and  bring  the  lore 

Antique,  and  sage,  and  mystic; — 
For  these  to  the  uttermost  thought  and  particle 
Must  go  in  to-morrow's  "  leading  article"— 

Argument— wit— statistic ! 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY    YEARS.  95 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

CUMBERLAND  VALLEY  R.R.  EXCURSION  —  THADDEUS  STEVENS  EXHILARATED  — 
OLIVER  EVANS'  PREDICTION — SIMON  CAMERON'S  TOAST — JACKSON'S  NOTION 
OP  TRADE  —  ANTI-MASONIC  PARTY  —  STEVENS  AN  ORATOR  —  A  SUICIDE  — 
BIDDLE'S  BANK — PENROSE  AND  BURDEN — OUR  GOOD  OLD  TIMES — INS  AND 
OUTS  —  PARTY  CONTROVERSIES  —  INDEPENDENT  TREASURY  —  PRESENT  NA 
TIONAL  BANKS  —  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  CONGRESS  —  THE  SOUTH  AND 
THE  TARIFF  —  PENNSYLVANIA  STRIKES  BACK— SETTLED  QUESTIONS  —  THE 

PRESIDENT'S   PILGRIMAGES. 

In  August  1837,  I  enjoyed  my  first  railroad  "excursion;"  the  opening  of 
the  Cumberland  Valley  Railroad  from  Harrisburg  to  Chambers  burg.  A 
car  load  of  gentlemen  (with  manly  selfishness,  never  thinking  that  ladies 
might  also  take  pleasure  in  a  trip  of  the  kind)  went  from  Harrisburg  to 
honor  the  occasion,  and  we  had  a  collation  and  speeches  at  Chambersburg. 
Except  the  few  miles  from  Johnston  to  the  first  inclined  plane  on  the  Alle 
gheny  Portage  Railroad,  where  I  saw  my  first  locomotive,  as  I  returned 
from  my  trip  to  the  west,  this  excursion  was  memorable  to  me  as  my  first 
railroad  ride  by  steam.  The  track  of  the  C.  V.  R.R.,  as  we  would  initial 
the  name  now  for  lack  of  time  to  speak  it  in  full,  was  laid  with  the  flat  rail ; 
but  even  that  sort  of  railroad  was  highly  valued  among  people  who  had 
never  had  any  better.  Thaddeus  Stevens  was  of  the  party — a  man  whose 
face  in  repose  reminded  one  of  the  pen  portrait  of  Napoleon  by  the  Irish 
orator  Phillips,  "grand,  gloomy  and  peculiar,"  but  whose  voice  was  music 
in  all  cadences,  and  whose  countenance  could  in  animation  express  all  in 
tensities  of  emotion  or  passion.  Seated  near  him,  I  said — 

"A  ride  in  the  cars  is  very  pleasant,  I  think,  Mr.  Stevens." 

"  It  is  very  exhilarating,  sir ;  very  exhilarating  !" 

That  was  the  word — exhilarating — the  word  I  had  wanted  when  I  crossed 
the  Alleghenies  on  the  Portage  railroad.  I  had  felt  but  not  uttered  it. 
Exhilarating  !  Yes — railroading  was  a  novelty  then,  and  it  was  an  event  in 
one's  life  to  be  drawn  by  a  locomotive.  Then  the  youth  of  twenty,  riding 
behind  the  "  iron  horse  "  for  the  first  time  had  sensations  of  which  those 
who  are  used  to  the  rail  from  childhood  can  have  no  conception.  The  rail 
road  and  the  locomotive,  of  which  he  had  heard  so  much,  and  which 


96  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEAKS. 

seemed  such  far-off  things,  now  realized  at  last !  Tt^ere  was  rapture  in  the 
thought,  with  a  tinge  of  awe  when  we  actually  started.  And  when,  on 
that  excursion— jubilant  all — we  were  whirled  along  the  prolific  Cumber 
land  Valley,  making  at  least  fifteen  miles  an  hour,  what  word  in  all  the 
dictionary  but  the  one  so  aptly  used  by  Mr.  Stevens  would  apply  ?  Yet  it 
was  not  new  ;  for  since  I  wrote  the  foregoing  sentence  I  have  turned  to  the 
life  of  Oliver  Evans,  and  find  this  prediction  made  by  him  at  Philadelphia 
about  the  beginning  of  the  century:  "  The  time  will  come  when  people 
will  travel  in  stages  moved  by  steam  engines  from  one  city  to  another  almost 
as  fast  as  birds  can  fly,  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  an  hour.  Passing  through 
the  air  with  such  velocity,  changing  scenes  in  such  rapid  succession  will  be 
the  most  exhilarating  exercise."  Alas  for  Oliver  !  If  money  had  been  sup 
plied  he  would  have  given  the  world  the  locomotive  at  least  a  quarter  of  a 
century  before  it  came  into  general  use.  But  capital  could  not  comprehend. 

I  only  remember  one  other  person,  in  addition  to  Thaddeus  Stevens,  as  in 
our  excursion  party,  and  he,  like  Thaddeus,  a.  character  of.  history — to  last 
a  generation  or  two.  This  was  GeneraLSimon  Cameron ;  in  his  boyhood,  an 
apprentice  to  Hamilton,  the  Harrisburg  printer.  Simon  was  a  "  self-made  " 
man,  who  not  only  provided  his  own  ladder  and  climbed  it,  but  also  helped 
to  provide  the  ladders  of  many  others.  At  the  collation  in  Chambersburg, 
Gen.  Cameron,  at  the  close  of  a  brief  speech,  gave  the  toast: 

"  Credit — the  magic  word  that  turns  everything  to  gold." 

Gen.  Cameron  was  a  democrat,  but  he  did  not  believe  with  President 
Jackson,  that  "all  who  trade  on  borrowed  capital  ought  to  break."  He 
was  the  Cashier  of  the  Middletown  Bank  ;  lent  money  to  foster  industries, 
and  did  not  want  the  borrowers" to  break,  and  break  his  bank.  He  under 
stood  finance,  I  think,  better  than  President  Jackson  ;  but  Gen.  Cameron 
himself  has  not  always  been  understood.  He  has  always  exercised  a  large 
influence  in  Pennsylvania,  not  because  he  corruptly  bought  up  and  bribed 
any  one,  as  his  enemies  have  charged,  but  because  he  did  more  kind  and 
generous  acts,  and  helped  more  struggling  men  in  their  business  careers, 
than  any  other  man  in  the  state. 

Thaddeus  Stevens  began  his  political  life  as  an  "Anti-Mason,"  and  in 
1837  and  for  some  years  following,  was  the  most  prominent  figure  in  Penn 
sylvania  politics.  Some  twenty  years  later  he  was  sent  to  Congress,  and 
was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  House,  but  did  not  gain  the  national 
reputation  which  he  would  have  commanded  if  he  had  entered  Congress 
earlier  in  life. 

It  can  hardly  be  realized  now,  that  a  political  party  could  be  organized 
on  the  single  plank  of  hostility  to  Free  Masonry.  Yet  such  was  the  case. 
Beginning  in  the  interior  of  New  York,  after  the  alleged  murder  by  Masons 
of  William  Morgan,  for  disclosing  the  secrets  of  the  order,  the  party  became 
powerful  in  New  England,  New  York  and  Pennsylvania ;  but  never  had 
much  strength  west  or  south  of  these  states.  After  a  few  years  of  bitter 
political  controversies,  dividing  friends  and  neighbors,  and  engendering 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  97 

personal  hatreds,  the  "  Antimasonic "  was  merged  into  the  whig  party, 
and  is  now  scarcely  remembered,  or  known  to  have  existed.  Yet  many 
strong  men,  from  whom  broader  views  were  to  have  been  expected,  seated 
themselves  on  this  narrow  plank,  and  even  floated  into  power  on  it.  Mr. 
Stevens  was  the  leader  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  party  elected  the  Gover 
nor,  Joseph  Ritner,  in  1835.  It  all  seems  to  have  been  extremely  absurd — 
an  "  antimasonic  party  !"— but  who  is  the  Canute  to  check  the  tide  of  folly  ? 

As  a  member  of  the  state  Legislature,  Mr.  Stevens  was  very  efficient  in 
the  passage  of  acts  to  establish  the  Common  Schools  of  Pennsylvania.  He 
was  an  orator  of  much  power  ;  persuasive  or  denunciatory  as  occasion  de 
manded.  I  remember  one  of  his  triumphs,  altho'  the  bill  was  finally  lost. 
It  was  a  bill  to  establish  a  "  School  of  Arts,"  and  in  the  afternoon  session, 
Mr.  Stevens  having  spoken  for  an  hour  or  two,  the  bill  was  passed  by  a 
vote  nearly  unanimous.  Hard-headed  old  democrats,  even,  had  been  swept 
along  by  the  flood  of  argument,  illustration  and  pathos.  But  a  night  of 
reflection  brought  a  reconsideration  next  day,  and  the  bill  was  voted  down 
by  as  large  a  majority  as  had  passed  it.  This  loss  of  the  bill  was  a  splendid 
compliment  to  the  orator,  proving  that  his  eloquence  had  carried  it  on  the 
previous  day. 

Having  apparently  no  taste  for  social  life,  Mr.  Stevens  sought  diversion 
at  the  gaming  table.  He  often  spent  an  evening  at  the  faro  bank,  and 
whether  winner  or  loser,  gave  no  evidence  of  elation  or  depression.  He  was 
a  gambler  entirely  for  recreation  ;  would  enter,  seat  himself  at  the  table, 
win  or  lose  till  weary  of  the  play,  and  then  leave  without  a  word  perhaps 
to  any  one.  He  never  married,  and  had  LIO  home  life. 

Mr.  Stevens  was  not  a  chatty  man.  He  used  few  words  in  conversation, 
but  they  were  always  apt.  His  expressions  were  terse,  and  often  bitter  ; 
but,  I  opine,  it  was  from  habit  rather  than  malice,  that  he  so  often  spoke 
daggers.  I  recall  no  injury  done  by  him  to  any  one,  save  in  party  contests ; 
but  as  a  party  man  he  had  no  toleration,  and  his  hatred  of  the  other  party 
was  intense.  When  a  democratic  partisan,  a  young  lawyer  in  Carlisle,  had 
in  a  temporary  aberration,  destroyed  himself,  and  some  one  asked  Mr.  Ste 
vens  if  he  had  heard  that  Mr.  Burnhep  "  had  blown  out  his  brains,"  the 
reply  was — 

"  All  a  mistake,  sir — all  a  mistake — he  shot  a  hole  through  his  head  !" 

Congress  having  failed  to  renew  the  charter  of  the  National  Bank,  appli 
cation  was  made  by  its  President,  Nicholas  Biddle,  to  the  Legislature  of 
Pennsylvania ;  and  in  1836  a  charter  was  granted  to  the  "  United  States  Bank 
of  Pennsylvania."  Some  democratic  Legislators  who  voted  for  this  charter 
were  repudiated  by  their  party  as  having  sold  themselves  to  the  Bank. 
Charles  B.  Penrose,  a  Senator,  and  Jesse  R.  Burden,  a  representative,  were 
the  most  prominent  of  these  recreant  democrats,  and  both,  discarded  by  the 
democrats,  became  prominent  whigs.  Stevens,  Penrose  and  Burden  con 
stituted  a  trio  most  offensive  to  all  pure  and  virtuous  democratic  nostrils. 

I  do  not  really  know  whether  or  not  Mr.  Biddle  bought  Mr.  Penrose  and 


98  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

Mr.  Burden.  I  never  saw  him  buying  anybody.  But  without  at  all  aver- 
ing  that  these  gentlemen  were  corrupt,  I  wish  to  enter  my  protest  against 
the  self-sufficiency  of  the  present  day,  in  regard  to  corruption  in  politics. 
Our  good  old  times  are  treated  as  if  we  had  had  no  corruption  at  all,  and  as 
if  all  political  knavery  had  been  held  in  reserve  to  illuminate  the  past 
quarter  of  a  century.  This  is  very  unfair,  and  shows  a  lamentable  igno 
rance  of  the  past.  Let  us  have  no  more  such  disparagement.  In  propor 
tion  to  population  and  to  the  square  mile,  we  had,  fifty  and  more  years 
ago,  I  think,  as  full  a  measure  of  knavery  in  politics  as  there  is  now,  with 
all  the  modern  improvements ;  and  hence  I  am  rather  optimistic  in  regard 
the  future  of  the  country. 

In  Pennsylvania  the  public  works — canals  and  railroads— then  owned 
and  managed  by  the  state,  were  a  source  of  corruption,  favoritism,  and 
party  bitterness.  Many  men  fattened  on  the  spoils ;  and  no  one  disputed 
the  truth  of  the  phrase  attributed  to  William  L.  Marcy,  "  to  the  victors 
belong  the  spoils."  The  strife  between  the  "ins  "  and  the  "outs"  was 
fierce  beyond -any  thing  we  now  witness.  Hence  our  party  contests  had  a 
double  measure  of  bitterness  arising  from  both  national  and  state  interests. 

No  man  only  forty  years  old  can  easily  conceive  a  fair  idea  of  the  con 
troversies  we  had  in  the  past  over  questions  connected  with  the  United 
States  Bank,  the  independent  treasury,  and  the  State  banks— all  now  hap 
pily  settled,  or  at  least  may  practically  be  so  considered.  The  question  of  a 
national  bank  like  the  old  one  will,  I  think,  never  be  revived.  The  great 
"  balance  wheel,"  as  we  used  to  call  it,  is  not  needed ;  and  besides,  experi 
ence  is  against  it.  Mr.  Biddle's  old  United  States  Bank  was  continued 
under  the  State  charter  of  1836,  but  as  a  balance  wheel  it  proved  to  be  a 
signal  failure.  It  ran  so  fast,  that  it  not  only  deranged  all  the  machinery  of 
finance,  but  whirled  so  rapidly  that  it  was  burst  in  pieces  by  centrifugal 
force,  scattering  ruin  all  around.  The  present  systems— of  which  the  inde 
pendent  treasury  was  initiated  by  the  old  democrats,  more  than  forty  years 
ago,  and  the  national  bank  system,  the  more  recent  work  of  the  republicans 
—only  need,  I  think,  to  be  let  alone ;  or  at* least,  if  the  bank  system  should 
need  a  little  amendment  at  any  time,  we  are  not  likely  to  have  any  fierce 
party  squabble  over  it,  or  over  the  silver  coinage,  or  any  other  financial 
question.  The  present  generation  may  esteem  themselves  fortunate  to  have 
so  many  troublesome  questions  out  of  party  politics.  In  the  independent 
treasury,  and  in  the  national  bank  system,  both  democrats  and  republicans 
builded  wiser  than  they  knew. 

Another  question,  that  of  internal  improvements  by  the  federal  govern 
ment,  is  happily  at  rest.  No  one  desires  now  to  step  over  bounds  to  which 
even  a  "strict  construction"  democrat  may  safely  venture.  But  we  dis 
puted  vigorously  on  this  topic  in  the  olden  time. 

The  tariff  is  left  for  discussion,  and  will  probably  remain ;  but  it  is  not 
likely  there  will  be  strict  division  of  parties  on  it ;  and  bitter  partisan  con 
flicts  in  regard  to  it  need  not,  I  think,  be  apprehended.  Legislation  on 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  99 

inter-state  commerce,  and  on  the  propriety  of  discouraging  immigration, 
may  come  up  at  an  early  day  for  discussion,  but  I  doubt  if  parties  will 
divide  on  these  subjects. 

The  slavery  question,  just  coming  into  party  contests  in  Pennsylvania, 
forty-six  years  ago— with  the  whigs  leaning  to  the  abolition  side  and  the  demo 
crats  to  the  other— is  disposed  of  forever.  I  remember  that  the  first  mob  I 
ever  heard  of  was  a  mob  in  Pennsylvania  interfering  with  an  anti-slavery 
orator.  In  Philadelphia,  in  1838,  a  hall  was  burned  by  a  mob  because  some 
abolitionists  were  holding  a  convention  in  it.  These  mobs,  together  with 
the  action  of  southern  men  in  trying  to  exclude  from  Congress  petitions  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  C  jlumbia,  tended  greatly  to  spread 
tho  anti-slavery  feeling  in  the  middle  and  northern  states.  At  least,  in 
Pennsylvania,  we  did  not  like  to  have  the  right  of  petition  interfered  with. 
We  had  a  right,  we  thought,  to  send  petitions  to  Congress  for  any  thing  we 
fancied,  and  if  we  petitioned  for  impracticable  things,  that  was  our  own 
affair.  If  Congress  could  at  its  pleasure  refuse  to  receive  one  kind  of  peti 
tion,  it  might  refuse  to  receive  another,  and  we  did  not  choose  to  have  the 
men  in  the  capitol  deciding  on  the  kind  of  prayer  the  people  might  offer. 
Not  that  we  cared  particularly  to  pray,  but  we  insisted  on  our  right  to  pray 
in  a  way  to  suit  ourselves,  if  we  felt  like  it ;  and  if  the  southern  members  of 
Congress  had  understood  human  nature,  and  had  let  in  all  petitions  with 
out  objection,  and  given  them  respectful  reference  (oven  if  left  to  sleep  in 
pigeon  holes),  there  would  not  have  been  so  many  sent.  One  fact  in  our 
history  I  have  never  seen  noted,  namely,  that  the  anti-tariff  or  free  trade 
doctrines  of  the  south  stimulated  the  growth  of  abolitionism  in  Pennsylva 
nia.  If  the  south  had  held  on  to  the  protective  tariff  doctrines  of  1816, 
Pennsylvania  would,  I  think,  never  have  tolerated  any  anti-slavery  preach 
ing  or  manifestations  within  her  borders.  When  the  south  struck  at  "  the 
tariff"  Pennsylvania  felt  the  dagger,  drew  out  the  bloody  weapon,  and 
struck  back. 

I  have  adverted  to  all  these  matters  to  show  how  happy  the  present 
voting  folks  ought  to  feel,  in  escaping  so  many  of  the  controversies  which 
agitated  the  country  but  a  few  years  ago.  So  many  questions  are  settled, 
that  there  does  not  in  reality  seem  to  be  much  matter  of  principle  left  to 
divide  parties ;  but  the  newspapers  have  ample  work  in  telling  us  of  thou 
sands  of  things  unknown  in  my  younger  days,  and  when  topics  of  science, 
art,  progress,  fashion,  and  events  by  wire  and  cable  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  fail,  they  can  easily  fill  up  with  suicides,  outrages,  murder,  base  ball, 
and  the  pilgrimages  of  the  President,  who  must  learn  what  the  country  is 
after  he  has  reached  the  highest  office  in  it 


ICO  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

NEVERMORE  —  IMITATING  TOM  MARSHALL  —  THE  BEST  LYCEUM  SPEECH — IDLE 
NESS  MORE  TIRESOME  THAN  WORK — EMINENT  CONSTANCY  —  IN  LOVE  — 
MOST  POWERFUL  THING  — ROMANCE  IN  SHOES  — CLARKE  OP  IOWA  — 
UNPAID  SERVICE  — COLIN  M'CURDY  A  PARTNER  — INTELLIGENCER  BOUGHT 
—  IK  MARVEL  —  CARELESS  BUBBLES  —  PSYCHICAL  LIGHTNING  STROKE  — 
THE  OLD,  OLD  STORY  —  MEMORABLE  MAY-DAY  —  LIFE  JOURNET  BEGUN  — 
A  TRUE  TALE  IN  VERSE  —  PERFECT  COMPANIONSHIP—  THE  MARBLE  IN 
OAK  HILL  CEMETERY. 

Governor  Bitner  having,  in  March  1838,  refused  to  appoint  a  man  of  my 
choice  judge  of  one  of  the  counties,  I  lost  my  temper,  and  throwing  up  my 
'  situation '  as  editor  of  the  Intelligencer  at  fifteen  dollars  a  week,  left 
Harrisburg  forever.  Never  more  would  I  enter  that  pleasant  town ;  never 
more  would  I  look  on  the  beautiful  valley,  or  the  broad  river  with  its  green 
islands,  or  the  blue  mountains  enclosing  the  lovely  landscape,  unsurpassed 
by  any  I  have  elsewhere  beheld  in  much  wandering ;  and  never  more  would 
I  stroll  out  on  a  summer  evening  to  enjoy  the  view  from  Prospeet  Hill, 
where  Prof.  J.  H.  Ingraham,  author  of  "Lafitte,  or  the  Pirate  of  the  Gulf," 
taught  me  how  to  enjoy  all  the  beauty  of  distant  scenery,  by  stooping  the 
head  and  looking  backward  (Madam  can  look  under  her  arm),  when  the 
inverted  organs  of  vision  find  charms  not  realized  with  the  head  erect. 
Nevermore — nevermore. 

Up  the  Juniata  to  my  native  town,  there  to  think  and  plan  for  the  future. 
The  Lyceum  had  a  meeting  the  night  after  my  arrival,  and  having  been 
one  of  its  founders,  I  was  received  with  kindly  greetings  by  Judge  Banks, 
its  President,  and  in  response  to  his  welcome  made  a  speech.  The  topics 
have  faded  from  memory,  but  I  recollect  that  I  put  into  my  address  the  best 
imitation  I  could  evoke  of  the  fervor  Tom  Marshall  had  manifested  in  his 
speech  to  the  multitude  at  Louisville  after  the  suspension  of  specie  pay 
ments,  and  that  I  reproduced  all  of  his  gesticulation  that  I  could  call  to 
mind.  It  was  a  plagiarism  of  the  Kentucky  orator's  manner,  and  I  proba 
bly  descanted  on  the  home  affections,  the  unparalled  beauty  of  the  Juniata 
scenery,  the  greatness  of  Pennsylvania,  and  other  topics  not  unpleasing  to 
the  audience ;  and  I  may  have  quoted  from  Montgomery's  poem  of  the  West 
Indies  the  passage : 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  101 

"  There  is  a  land  of  every  land  the  pride, 
Beloved  by  Heaven  o'er  all  the  world  beside ; 
Where  brighter  suns  dispense  serener  light, 
And  milder  moons  emparadise  the  night; 
A  land  of  beauty,  virtue,  valor,  truth, 
Time-tutored  age,  and  love-exalted  youth." 

I  must  have  quoted  these  lines,  which,  when  we  recited  them  at  the 
Academy  under  Mr.  Hickok's  supervision,  had  always  seemed  to  have  been 
written  for  our  region,  and  almost  convinced  us  that  the  writer  must  have 
been  along  there  before  writing  them.  Any  way,  my  little  speech  set  every 
body  to  wondering  at  my  improved  oratory,  and  I  was  applauded  to  the 
echo.  It  was  the  best  speech,  no  doubt,  ever  made  in  the  Lyceum,  though 
I  can  never  prove  the  fact,  for  of  all  who  were  then  present  I  am  probably 
the  sole  survivor.  But  after  the  speech  was  delivered  I  thought  of  so  many 
things  that  I  might  have  said  and  did  not  say,  that  the  glow  of  utterance 
merged  into  a  chill,  and  again  I  decided  that  I  was  not  jit  by  nature  for  an 
orator. 

In  the  scenes  of  boyhood's  trials  and  pleasures  I  spent  about  three  weeks, 
musing  over  the  little  events  that  had  been  so  great  when  they  occurred ; 
but  there  was  little  of  the  dolcefar  niente,  or  "  sweet  to  do  nothing  "  in  it  all. 
The  habit  of  being  employed  was  so  fixed  that  idleness  was  more  tiresome 
than  work,  and  I  must  again  be  in  a  wider  and  busier  world.  I  went  back 
to  Harrisburg ;  my  "  nevermore  "  had  lasted  less  than  a  month !  This  may 
look  like  fickleness  and  vascillation ;  but,  My  Dear  Madam,  it  was  eminent 
constancy.  I  was  in  love  ! 

When  a  fine  lady  asked  George  Stephenson  what  is  the  most  powerful 
thing  in  the  world,  he  replied  that  it  is  the  eye  of  a  woman  for  the  man 
who  loves  her ;  for  if  she  looks  on  him  with  affection,  and  he  should  stray 
to  the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth,  her  look  will  bring  him  back !  But 
George,  practical  as  he  was  at  his  steam  engine  when  a  young  man  at  the 
colliery— working  at  odd  times  repairing  shoes  to  pay  for  schooling— was 
yet  full  of  the  sentiment  and  romance  often  pervading  work-a-day  natures. 
He  was  in  love  with  Fanny  Henderson,  and  having  mended  her  shoes,  car. 
ried  them  in  his  pocket  a  day  or  two  for  the  pleasure  of  taking  them  out 
now  and  then  to  look  at  and  admire  ;  and  after  he  became  the  great  engineer 
of  railroads  and  builder  of  locomotives,  and  had  long  ago  been  married  to 
Fanny  and  had  shed  tears  not  unmanly  at  her  grave,  he  was  never,  I  believe, 
ashamed  of  the  homage  he  had  paid  her  by  slyly  kissing  the  little  shoes ; 
and  I  own  that  I  can  hardly  think  the  worse  of  him  for  it,  as  I  have  as 
great  toleration  for  the  man  who  is  honestly  in  love,  as  I  have  detestation 
for  any  one  who  undervalues  or  disparages  the  worth  of  the  sex  to  which 
his  unfortunate  mother  belonged. 

On  my  return  to  Harrisburg  I  met  James  Clarke,  a  jour,  printer,  who 
had  been  appointed  Secretary  of  the  new  Territory  of  Iowa,  then  recently 
cut  off  from  Wisconsin,  and  now  a  great  domain  of  wealth  and  culture. 
Mr.  Clarke  was  on  his  way  westward,  and  wished  me  to  join  him  and  "grow 


102  NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

up  with  the  country."  But  such  was  not  my  kismet,  as  the  Musselman 
calls  destiny,  which  I  am  at  times  half  inclined  to  believe  in.  The  time  had 
not  come  for  me  to  tread  the  exuberant  soil  of  Iowa,  and  I  was  not  to  tread 
it  on  the  eastern  but  on  the  western  border.  In  after  years  I  was  domiciled 
for  a  time  within  her  desired  boundaries,  and  was  able  to  do  the  prospective 
state  some  unrewarded  service;  but  I  could  not  "go West"  with  Mr. 
Clarke,  valued  as  his  friendship  was.  The  pioneer  spirit,  deadened  by  my 
experience  with  Col.  Behrenbeck,  had  not  been  re-developed,  and  the  local 
attraction  was  too  strong.  I  must  remain  in  Harrisburg,  and  in  April,  hav 
ing  entered  into  a  partnership  with  Colin  McCurdy,  a  fellow  printer  and  one 
of  nature's  gentlemen,  we  bought  the  Intelligencer. 

I  WAS  IN  LOVE,  and  had  vague  ideas  of  marriage— but  with  youth's 
unknowing  of  the  felicity  crowning  a  well-assorted  union,  which,  all 
unmeriting,  it  was  my  after  future  to  enjoy ;  and  never  thinking  that  ever 
husband  would  write  so  tenderly  and  touchingly  as  did  Ik  Marvel,  when 
(barring  the  harsh  word)  he  said  years  after  and  seemingly  for  me,  and 
better  than  I  could  have  put  my  own  experience  into  words  : 

"The  mother  is  as  beautiful  as  ever,  and  far  more  dear  to  me;  for 
gratitude  has  been  adding,  year  by  year,  to  love.  There  have  been  times 
when  a  harsh  word  of  mine  uttered  in  the  fatigues  of  business,  has  touched 
her ;  and  I  have  seen  that  soft  eye  fill  with  tears,  and  I  have  upbraided 
myself  for  causing  her  one  pang.  But  such  she  does  not  remember,  or 
remembers  only  to  cover  with  her  gentle  forgiveness." 

IN  LOVE.  That  was  all.  But  how  it  came  about,  who  can  tell  ?  It  was 
in  the  autumn  of  1837.  Since  June,  life  had  gone  pleasantly.  I  had  spent 
many  delightful  evenings  in  the  society  of  young  ladies,  not  in  love  with 
any,  but  rendering  homage  to  all.  Attentions  were  shown  to  each,  with 
verses  in  albums  (then  in  vogue),  and  courteous  phrases,  and  all  the  little 
flatteries  which  men  are  apt  to  suppose  women  fonder  of  than  they  are. 
But  nothing  serious,  even  wdth  Ann  of  Locust  Grove,  or  Margaretta  of 
Carlisle,  both  of  whom  were  charming  and  greatly  admired.  All  of  us 
floating  along,  careless  bubbles  on  the  stream,  unfearing  any  cataract  or 
whirlpool  in  its  course.  But  who  knows  his  fate  ?  As  I  strolled  one  evening 
up  the  one-sided  street,  with  the  cosy  dwellings  on  the  right,  and  the  serene 
Susquehanna  and  its  sleeping  islands  on  the  left,  and  over  all  the  Indian 
summer  haze,  softening  all  outlines  as  if  for  the  pencil  of  a  Claude  Lorraine, 
a  young  lady  stepped  from  the  door-sill  to  the  little  porch— and  struck  me ! 

Not  a  physical  blow — unfeminine — with  tiny  hand,  or  even  playful  and 
coquettish  fan ;  but  a  psychical  lightning  stroke,  not  rending  but  thrilling, 
and  causing  the  heart  to  glow  like  the  carbon  of  electric  light,  but  with 
incandescence  that  did  not  consume.  She  it  was  of  whom  when  first  in  her 
presence  I  had  the  prophetic  thought,  so  amply  realized  as  time  rolled 
on,  that  she  "would  make  a  good  wife  for  somebody  some  day  ;"  though  I 
had  not  the  faintest  throb  of  what  is  called  love  at  first  sight.  And  there 
she  was.  as  never  before.  Often  had  she  stepped  as  lightly  to  the  porch  ; 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY   YEAKS.  103 

often  had  her  cheerful  and  winning  smile  greeted  me.  But  now — a  charm 
ineffable !  Never  so  beautiful — never  the  smile  so  sweet.  My  love  had 
come,  as  it  comes  only  once  in  a  man's  life,  however  often  he  may  be  fond 
and  faithful.  But  it  was  all  too  sudden,  too  new,  then  to  be  uttered  ;  and  a 
moon  of  time  elapsed  before  the  venture  was  dared. 

Needless  all  the  tale  to  tell— 

The  trembling  accents  that  declare 
How,  bound  and  fettered  by  her  spell, 

But  happy  in  the  chains  I  wear, 
I'll  ever,  ever  love  her  well; 
And  how  the  timoi'ous  words  implore 

Her  kindly  thought,  and  beg  her  then 
Not  to  disdain  for  evermore, 

The  heart  that  cannot  love  again. 
And  how  the  startled  maid  replies — 

"You  jest!" — not  crediting  the  tale; 
And  how  the  lustre  of  her  eyes 
Tells  like  her  blush,  the  great  surprise; 

And  how  no  pleadings  can  avail 
For  more  than  time  to  think  it  o'er; 

Arid  how,  content  to  gain  ev'n  this, 

Nor  daring  yet  a  lover's  kiss, 
But,  hope  all  brighter  than  before, 

I  dream,  and  dream  of  future  bliss. 
And  needless  is  it  to  renew 

The  old,  old  story,  now  and  here, 
How  Love  responsive  slowly  grew, 
And  how,  in  sooth,  at  length  I  knew— 

Wordless— the  tale  I  long'd  to  hear. 
For  not  in  utterance  alone—  4 

But  by  expressive  silence— may 
The  wish'd  response  be  surely  known; 
And  clasp  we  then  our  own— our  own- 
Till  life  shall  reach  its  latest  day! 

The  winter  wore  away,  with  a  shadowy  future  of  wedded  life,  some  time, 
as  Hope  told  us,  to  be  realized;  but  suddenly  came  my  quarrel  with  the 
Governor  in  March,  and  my  departure,  as  already  told,  never  more  to 
return.  Going  as  I  was  for  endless  time  and  to  undetermined  lands,  it  was 
best,  I  thought,  to  release  each  other  ;  and  when  the  propriety  of  this  was 
suggested,  the  reply  was  neither  unkind  nor  reproachful,  yet  had  a  simple 
dignity  in  harmony  with  her  well -poised  character :  "  I  did  not  propose  the 
engagement."  Returned  in  April,  the  wanderer  found  it  by  no  means  as 
easy  to  renew  the  bonds  of  mutual  promise  as  it  had  been  to  cancel  them, 
and  not  till  May-day,  at  a  little  party  out  at  Mrs.  Hannah's  grove,  could 
opportunity  be  gained  to  propose  a  renewal  of  the  covenant.  With  the 
blood-red  sap  of  a  native  plant,  on  a  torn  paper  from  the  lunch  basket,  were 
traced  the  words  of  repentance  and  the  prayer  for  pardon ;  and  a  smile  of 
forgiveness  and  of  reconciliation  made  happy  the  self-accusing  but  repent 
ant  swain.  It  was  as  romantic  as  an  invented  scene,  but  entirely  real  for 
blessings  on  a  life.  On  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  that  auspicious  May-day 


104  NOTES   TAKEN. IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

these  verses  were  written  for  one  who  merited  poetry  of  a  higher  order,  but 
who  wished  for  no  lines  more  truthful : 

THE  FIRST  OF  MAY. 

The  first  of  May— oh  happy  day! 

The  clay  when  we  went  pleasuring; 
When  youthful  sports  and  youthful  glee 

The  joyous  hours  were  measuring. 

The  first  of  May — oh  happy  day ! 

It  gave  me  back  my  dearie  then; 
And  troth  was  pledged  for  life  to  last, 

By  those  who  could  not  part  again. 

The  first  of  May— oh  happy  day ! 

What  mem'ries  round  it  ever  cling! 
For  love  as  ardent  now  as  then 

Each  day  new  rapture  still  can  bring. 

The  first  of  May— oh  happy  day! 

The  day  we  learn'd  how  fond  we  were; 
And  each  return  still  finds  as  fresh 

As  then,  the  love  we  whispered  then. 

The  first  of  May— oh  happy  day! 

The  day  when  we  went  pleasuring; 
Through  forty  years  our  hearts  then  join'd 

Have  cups  of  bliss  been  measuring. 

On  the  twenty-first  day  of  June,  1838,  when  I  lacked  nineteen  days  of 
twenty-one  years,  and  exactly  one  year  from  the  day  of  my  arrival  in  Har- 
risburg,  the  early  hours  witnessed  a  wedding  breakfast  preceding  a  quiet 
ceremony,  and  after  the  Rector,  Rev.  Nathan  Stem,  had  pronounced  them 
husband  and  wife,  the  wedded  pair,  with  a  little  trunk  of  the  bride's  clothes 
(not  called  "trousseau  "  then)  strapped  on  the  one-horse  buggy,  left  the  door 
of  her  parents'  residence  on  their  way  to  the  home  of  her  mate's  parents  and 
relatives;  the  old  dog,  "  Drummer"  giving  a  farewell  bark  as  if  he  under 
stood  the  occasion  to  be  joyous,  in  spite  of  the  solemn  scene  he  had  wondered 
at  in  the  parlor,  and  had  half  a  notion  to  interrupt ;  and  "  Rosinante,"  the 
old  gray  horse,  trotting  off  as  gaily  as  if  he  felt  the  inspiration  of  a  happy 
future  for  his  master.  Not  greatly  different  from  the  scene,  when  George 
Stephenson,  with  Fanny  on  a  pillion  behind  him  clasping  his  waist,  and 
the  bridesman  and  bridesmaid  on  another  horse,  started  across  the  country 
on  their  little  tour.  It  was  long,  long  ago,  that  our  buggy  and  the  little 
trunk  moved  from  the  door,  as  the  traditional  old  shoe  was  thrown  after  us 
for  luck's  sake  ;  but  the  unpretentious  spectacle  of  the  twain  thus  beginning 
their  joint  life-journey, — with  the  bridesman  (not  called  "best  man"  then, 
as  if  in  derogation  of  the  happy  Benedict)  and  the  one  bridesmaid,  in 
another  buggy,  going  only  up  to  Duncan's  Island,  there  to  dine  and  then 
return, — was  in  harmony  with  the  simple  but  gentle  manners  of  people 
undamaged  by  wealth  and  idleness,  and  caring  only  for  the  essentials  of 
refined  and  useful  lives.  The  little  trunk  contained  all  of  "  trousseau  "  that 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  105 

a  bride  then  needed  ;  and  as  to  the  groom,  (if  memory  is  not  at  fault,)  most 
of  his  belongings  in  the  way  of  raiment,  were  probably  carried  on  his 
person. 

The  journey  along  the  Susquehanna  river,  and  then  along  the  Juniata, 
through  scenes  where  nature  has  lavished  so  much  beauty  that  art,  save  in 
the  simple  adornments  of  the  farm  and  in  the  village  and  the  highway, 
would  seem  an  intrusion,  was  not  enjoyed  any  the  less  because  of  having 
in  it  so  little  of  factitious  splendor  or  pageantry ;  and  the  memory  of  it  was 
never  tainted  by  regret  that  it  had  occurred.  On  the  twenty-first  day  of 
June,  1878,  forty  full  and  eventful  years  after  the  ceremony  and  journey 
which  began  the  best  part  of  his  life,  it  was  the  privilege  of  the  husband, 
who  never  ceased  to  be  the  lover,  to  dedicate  to  his  companion  of  the  long- 
ago  journey,  some  verses  which  may  be  unusual  in  real  life  or  literature, 
but  which  have  at  least  the  one  merit  of  absolute  truthfulness : 

LIZZIE  AND  I  ABE  ONE. 

Lizzie  and  I  are  One,  and  One  we  mean  to  be^ 
Seeing  it's  forty  years  since  she  joined  hands  with  me; 
And  this  honeymoon  of  ours  I'm  sure  'twill  never  set, 
For  as  it  shone  so  long  ago  'tis  shining  on  us  yet. 

We  then  were  link'd  together,  for  better  or  for  worse; 

She  took  me  for  a  blessing— I  might  have  proved  a  curse;— 

Perhaps  I've  not  been  either,  but  luck  was  on  my  side, 

For  Lizzie  has  been  a  blessing  since  the  day  she  was  a  bride. 

I  carry  here  her  picture  in  a  pocket  near  my  heart, 
And  never  truer  angel  face  was  drawn  by  human  art; 
They  may  not  think  it  beautiful,  but  never  do  I  see 
In  throngs  of  charming  women  a  face  so  dear  to  me. 

And  BOW  as  I  look  on  it  I'm  back  at  the  happy  day, 
When  Lizzie  and  I,  united,  were  smiling  along  the  way; 
Not  pompous  was  the  journey,  yet  all" the  world  had  part, 
For  each  was  truly  all  the  world  to  th'  other's  loving  heart. 

Our  wedding  jaunt  it  was,  and  my  proudest  day  of  life, 
For  it  led  to  the  loving  old  folks  to  show  my  precious  wife; 
And  as  Old  Gray  jogged  onward,  all  earth  and  air  and  sky 
Were  naught  to  me,  for  heaven  was  there  in  Lizzie's  beaming  eye. 

It  seemed  as  if  all  nature,  in  summer's  richest  dress, 
Was  thus  arrayed  in  sympathy  with  our  happiness; 
And  even  wayside  posies  look'd  up  as  if  to  say- 
God  made  us  to  shed  fragrance  on  the  holy  marriage  day. 

And  she  with  sense  superior  detected  in  the  air 

The  odor  of  each  blossom,  and  knew  'twas  blooming  there; 

And  oft  Old  Gray  was  halted,  in  each  elapsing  hour, 

That  I,  responsive  to  her  wish,  might  cull  the  wilding  flower. 

The  woods  and  fields  and  mountain  sides  for  her  had  wealth  untold— 
A  silver  flood  the  river  ran,  the  sun  cast  rays  of  gold;— 
With  soul  reflned  she  saw  and  felt  ten  thousand  glories  there, 
Whilst  I— well,  I  could  only  see  my  bride  so  wondr-us  fair. 


106  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

Ah  me!— it  was  a  tour  of  joy,  an  episode  of  bliss— 
With  earnest  faith  in  every  pulse— hope  fervent  as  a  kiss; 
And  ever  as  the  day  wore  on,  I  seem'd  to  love  her  more, 
But  now,  with  forty  years  agone,  we  love  as  ne'er  before. 

Childhood  hath  claim'd  maternal  care  that  never  was  denied, 
As  the  gentle,  tender  mother  took  the  place  of  blushing  bride; 
And  all  who  grew  around  us  with  love  reward  her  care, 
And  think  there's  none  so  kind  and  wise  as  Mother  sitting  there. 

The  years  have  sped,  and  good  and  ill  have  met  us  on  the  way, 
But  jointly  we've  kept  moving  on,  as  on  the  joining  day; 
And  still  for  better  or  for  worse  life's  lessons  we  have  conn'd, 
But  never  dream'd  of  learning  how  to  break  the  joining  bond. 

Yes— Lizzie  and  I  are  One,  and  Two  we'll  never  be, 

Till  death  an  arrow  launches  at  Lizzie  or  at  me; 

And  though  our  heads  are  frosted,  and  the  frosty  locks  are  thin, 

Our  hearts,  like  winter  fires,  are  glowing  warm  within. 

The  man  who  has  never  been  happily  married  has  not  known  the  more 
exalted  felicities  of  life.  No  companionship  so  sweet  and  so  perfect  as 
that  of  a  wedded  pair,  who  forget  self  in  each  other,  and  whose  tastes  and 
wishes  so  blend  as  time  cements  their  union,  that  they  are  110  longer  twain 
but  one  in  feeling  and  wish.  Even  adversity  may  find  solace  in  the  melan 
choly  pleasure  of  doing  all  we  can  to  alleviate  the  distresses  of  a  suffering 
mate.  He  is  less  than  man  and  false  to  his  race,  who  has  never  aspired  to 
enjoy  the  pure  friendship,  the  unselfish  devotion,  and  the  chaste  love  of 
wedlock. 

In  the  early  days  of  December,  1878,  the  fatal  arrow  sped,  and  in  Oak 
Hill  Cemetery,  not  distant  from  our  Elm  Lodge,  the  home  in  Kirkwood  she 
for  more  than  a  score  of  years  adorned  and  blessed,  the  marble  with  chiseled 
foliage  and  flowers,  chaste  in  ornamentation  as  her  own  refined  taste  would 
have  chosen,  now  marks  the  resting  place  of  all  that  was  mortal  of  a  most 
estimable  wife  and  mother.  For  forty  and  a  half  years,  lacking  fifteen  days, 
we  together  strolled  along  the  pathway  of  life,  mostly  among  flowers,  but 
with  sometimes  a  thorn  or  a  brier.  Time  mitigates  sorrow,  but  only  en 
hances  reverence  for  perfection  of  character.  Always  serene,  never  once  for 
a  moment  did  her  cheerfulness  or  patience  or  fortitude  fail ;  never  a  word  in 
anger ;  never  a  duty  neglected ;  never  an  unkind  act.  Shortly  after  her 
release  from  the  ties  of  earth  her  eldest  daughter,  in  a  letter  to  me,  ex 
pressed  the  satisfaction  she  felt  in  reflecting  that  her  mother's  life  had  been 
peaceful  and  happy,  and  that  in  her  declining  years  she  had  the  cheer  and 
solace  of  every  attention  and  service  that  love  could  render ;  closing  the 
letter  with  this  golden  sentence  :  "  Few  families  of  children  can  say,  as  we 
can,  that  they  never  heard  an  unkind  word  between  their  parents." 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  107 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

PARTY  BITTERNESS  —  RITNER  AND  PORTER  —  ABUSED  CANDIDATES  —  TOO  MANY 
DEMOCRATIC  VOTES  —  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION  —  CONSTITUTIONAL  RIGHTS — 
PORTER  ELECTED  —  HEROIC  POLITICIANS  —  THE  LEGISLATURE  —  A  SIMPLE 
PROCESS — ELECTION  CERTIFICATES  —  PESTIFEROUS  DEMOCRATS — CAUSE  OF 
THE  BUCKSHOT  WAR  —  ALARM  —  VAN  BUREN  REFUSES  HELP  —  ARSENAL 
GARRISON  —  TOO  MANY  WINDOWS — NOT  EVEN  FLINTS  —  HONORS  EASY  — 
ROW  IN  THE  SENATE  —  THE  BACK  WINDOW  —  SOLDIERS  SWEAR  —  BLOOD 
LESS  WAR  —  QUEER  MILITARY  HISTORY. 

For  intense  bitterness  and  violent  denunciations  of  each  party  by  the 
other,  the  contest  of  1838  in  Pennsylvania  has  probably  never  been  equalled, 
even  in  that  state.  Had  each  party  been  composed  of  men  as  vile  and  un 
principled  as  they  were  painted  by  their  adversaries,  the  Commonwealth 
could  not  have  endured.  Joseph  Ritner,  the  incumbent,  was  the  whig  can 
didate  for  re-election  to  the  office  of  governor,  and  David  R.  Porter  was  the 
democratic  candidate.  According  to  the  Democrats,  Ritner  was  an  igno 
rant  simpleton,  the  tool  of  knaves.  The  whigs  denounced  Porter  as  an 
unprincipled  scoundrel.  Neither  picture  was  at  all  true  to  the  original. 
Ritner  was  a  plain  man,  of  good  sense,  and  well-informed  on  state  and 
national  affairs.  Porter  was  a  man  of  stronger  mind  and  broader  informa 
tion.  Both  were  honest,  as  men  go,  but  each  had  to  shut  his  eyes  to  much 
in  the  conduct  of  his  partisans  that  was  not  of  assured  propriety,  as  the 
object  was  to  get  votes,  honestly  if  convenient,  but  at  all  events  to  get  them. 
It  is  only  just  to  the  whigs  to  state  that  we  did  our  best  to  abuse  Mr.  Porter 
more  shamefully  than  the  democrats  did  Mr.  Ritner,  but  I  was  never  sure 
that  we  succeeded.  The  contest  for  the  legislature  was  not  less  bitter  than 
that  for  governor  ;  not  because  any  important  questions  of  national  or  state 
policy  were  to  be  decided  by  it,  but  because  of  the  patronage  to  be  distrib 
uted  in  the  management  of  the  ''public  works"  of  the  state,  which  still 
owned  the  canal  and  railroads. 

But  with  our  best  efforts,  and  the  unscrupulous  use  of  all  the  patronage 
at  the  command  of  the  state  government,  the  whigs  could  not  re-elect  Mr- 
Ritner.  The  unregenerate  and  incorrigible  democrats,  who  actually  sneered 
at  our  asserted  honesty,  had  too  many  votes.  The  slavery  question  helped 


108  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

to  defeat  us.  In  one  of  Governor  Bltner's  messages,  very  ably  written,  and 
supposed  to  have  been  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Burrowes,  Secretary  of  the  Com 
monwealth,  the  democrats,  who  had  opposed  all  agitation  of  the  slavery 
question,  had  been  charged  with  "bending  the  knee  to  the  dark  spirit  of 
slavery" — a  pretty  figure  of  speech,  whatever  it  meant; — and  to  this  the 
democrats  replied  that  they  were  only  acting  up  to  the  constitution,  and 
recognizing  the  rights  under  it  of  the  southern  people,  while  the  whigs  were 
meddling  with  matters  that  did  not  at  all  concern  the  people  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  This  argument  of  the  democrats  had  much  influence,  as  they  blended 
it  with  the  retort,  that  the  only  spirit  to  which  they  ever  bent  a  knee  was 
"  the  spirit  of  the  constitution." 

While  we  used  the  state  patronage  with  all  possible  vigor  and  effect,  the 
democrats  had  against  us  the  patronage  of  the  federal  government,  and  thus 
left  our  party  but  little  advantage,  so  far  as  the  use  of  public  moneys  was 
concerned.  David  B.  Porter  was  elected  governor,  and  we  had  to  submit. 
There  was  no  way  to  upset  the  election,  and  in  the  ensuing  January  he 
would  be  inaugurated ;  but  I  think  Stevens,  Penrose,  Burden  and  others 
would  have  strained  a  point  to  keep  him  out,  even  after  his  election,  if  they 
could  have  found  any  point  to  strain.  They  were  heroic  politicians,  with 
courage  for  anything  practicable. 

I  forget  how  the  majorities  stood  in  the  Senate  and  House,  but  think  the 
latter  depended  on  the  delegation  from  Philadelphia  county,  and  this  dele 
gation  of  seven  members  our  party  leaders  resolved  to  secure.  We  had  no 
tissue  ballots,  or  flimsy  contrivances  of  that  kind,  but  had  wa  simpler  pro 
cess.  The  judges  of  election  were  whigs,  and  the  certificates  of  election 
would  seat  in  the  House  the  men  to  whom  they  might  be  given.  They  were 
accordingly  given  to  the  whig  candidates.  It  was  a  beautiful  arrangement, 
extremely  simple  and  apparently  effective.  The  only  weak  point  was,  that 
the  democrats  had  cast  more  votes  at  the  election  than  the  whigs.  Still, 
certificates  are  good  things,  and  if  those  who  ought  to  get  them,  and  do  not 
get  them,  will  only  keep  quiet,  the  sitting  members  can  have  a  good  time. 

But  the  pestiferous  democrats  of  Philadelphia  county  (not  then  absorbed 
as  part  of  the  city)  would  not  keep  quiet.  On  the  contrary,  they  declared 
that  they  would  not  submit  to  be  cheated  out  of  the  election,  and  intended 
their  seven  men  to  have  the  seats  to  which  they  had  been  chosen.  The 
whigs  shook  the  election  certificates  in  their  democratic  faces,  but  they 
said,  profanely  but  positively,  that  they  did  not  care  a  (blank)  for  all  the 
certificates  ever  issued ;  and  indulged  in  random  talk  about  the  "  rights  of 
the  majority." 

This  was  the  origin  of  the  BUCKSHOT  WAR,  "  all  of  which  I  saw,  and 
part  of  which  I  was." 

It  was  early  in  December,  1838.  The  day  fixed  for  the  meeting  of  the 
Legislature  found  the  borough  of  Harrisburg  unusually  populous.  A  very 
considerable  part  of  the  people  of  Philadelphia  county  had  escorted  to  the 
seat  of  government  the  men  claimed  to  have  been  elected  to  the  House,  but 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  109 

to  whom  certificates  had  been  denied.  As  a  rule,  these  visitors  were  not 
attractive  looking  citizens.  The  whigs  were  decorous  and  rather  cleanly 
people,  and  we  regarded  the  "  unterrified  "  democrats  as  a  mob.  We  spoke 
of  them  (among  ourselves)  as  "  rabble,"  and  "  dirty  locofocos,"  but  that  did 
not  seem  to  decrease  their  numbers,  and  to  put  it  mildly,  they  looked  formi 
dable. 

I  forget  the  order  of  events,  but  remember  that  the  sessions  of  the  House 
had  a  large  crowd  of  spectators  in  the  lobbies,  and  that  the  democratic 
members  from  all  parts  of  the  state  tried  to  protest  against  the  admission 
of  our  seven  whigs  from  Philadelphia  county,  all  certificated  as  they  were. 
But  their  credentials  were  regular  in  form,  and  our  men  were  seated,  in 
spite  of  earnest  objections  founded  on  the  unimportant  fact  that  their  oppo 
nents  had  received  most  votes  ;  whereupon  the  democrats  appeared  to  be  in 
bad  humor,  and  used  language  that  would  not  look  well  in  print. 

There  was  of  course  intense  excitement,  and  I  think  on  our  side  some 
alarm,  as  our  partisans  had  not,  like  the  democrats,  gathered  in  crowds 
at  the  capital,  but  left  us  to  the  protection  of  our  own  virtue.  The  governor, 
it  was  said,  was  badly  scared,  but  the  report  may  have  been  untrue ; 
although  he  at  once  wrote  to  President  Van  Buren  at  Washington,  demand 
ing  United  States  troops  to  stand  by  "  the  constitution  and  the  laws ;"  and 
also  called  on  a  regiment  of  volunteer  soldiery  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia  to 
repair  at  once  to  Harrisburg,  each  man  with  one  hundred  rounds  of  car 
tridges  made  up  of  "  buckshot  and  ball;"  an  order  which  gave  the  war  its 
name. 

All  this  time  the  democrats  were  declaring  themselves  to  be  the  most 
peaceable  citizens  ever  seen  on  earth,  who  only  wanted  their  "  rights,"  and 
intended  to  have  them  at  all  hazards — "  (blank)  old  Ritner !" — but  they 
would  violate  no  law !  No — they  only  wanted  the  men  who  had  received 
most  votes  at  the  election  to  be  seated  in  the  House. 

It  was  a  raw,  drizzly,  chilling  December  day.  The  volunteer  regiment 
from  Philadelphia  had  not  arrived,  though  understood  to  be  preparing  to 
come.  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  flatly  refused  to  send  us  any  help,  intimating 
that  the  governor  had  not  presented  a  case  to  justify  action  by  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States.  The  previous  night  had  been  one  of  suspense,  if 
not  peril,  and  the  governor  had  not  slept  well.  All  these  strange  demo 
crats,  some  of  whom  were  evidently  rough  fellows,  might  not  be  as  peaceful 
as  they  held  themselves  out  to  be,  or  as  Tom  McElwee,  a  u  locofoco  "  repre 
sentative  from  Bedford,  said  they  were.  Precautions  ought  to  be  taken. 
The  state  arsenal  and  the  arms  in  it  were  entirely  without  any  guard  but 
the  custodian,  Papa  Emerson,  turned  of  three-score  ; — and  suppose  the  mob 
and  rabble  should  seize  the  arsenal  and  all  the  arms— what  then?  This 
was  a  fearful  thought,  and  the  word  went  round  in  whispers  that  the 
arsenal  ought  to  be  guarded. 

Sam  Rutherford,  a  captain  of  militia  that  never  paraded,  was  thirsty  for 
glory,  if  not  gore,  and  volunteered  to  be  one  of  the  guard.  Others  volun- 


110  NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

teered,  and  undef  the  inspiration  of  exalted  patriotism,  so  did  I.  Alto 
gether,  fourteen  of  us  hunted  up  Papa  Emerson,  and  about  9  o'clock  a.  m. 
slipped  into  the  arsenal  one  at  a  time.  But  as  soon  as  it  got  noised  abroad 
that  the  arsenal  was  guarded,  the  peaceable  democrats  became  indignant. 
To  put  a  guard  of  whigs  over  the  public  arms  implied  that  the  law-abiding 
democrats  intended  to  interfere  with  the  state  property ;  and  this  was  an 
imputation  to  be  resented.  They  soon  began  to  collect  in  squads  near  the 
building,  conferring  with  each  other,  and  supposing  we  might  have  two  or 
three  hundred  men  inside,  were  afraid  to  venture  very  close.  As  their 
numbers  increased  they  became  bolder,  and  when  about  two  hundred  had 
assembled,  began  to  call  out  to  us  to  "  come  out  of  there,"  using  a  variety  of 
expressions  not  polite. 

Meantime,  inside,  we  wandered  about  the  large  upper  halls  of  the  build 
ing,  where  bright  rows  of  war-like  muskets  with  bayonets  on  were  disposed 
in  racks  between  the  windows,  and  looked  formidable.  We  glanced  out, 
and  there  seemed  to  be  a  thousand  men  at  least.  Then  we  counted  the 
windows,  twenty  in  number,  and  only  about  sixteen  feet  from  the  ground. 
Suppose  the  "mob"  should  get  twenty  ladders— what  then?  As  we  had 
only  fourteen-twentieths  (|£)  of  a  man  to  a  window 

It  was  frightful.  And  below  were  the  big  double-doors  at  the  foot  of  the 
broad  stairway.  Suppose  the  foe  should  break  in?  We  must  barricade, 
and  some  large  boxes  of  books  were  at  once  dragged  from  one  of  the  storage 
rooms  and  placed  against  the  doors,  so  that  the  assailants  could  not  push 
them  open  if  the  wooden  bar  across  them  should  give  way.  As  the  air  was 
chilly,  we  felt  a  little  grateful  warmth  from  tugging  at  and  lifting  the 
heavy  boxes. 

The  "locofocos"  outside  were  howling,  in  response  to  speeches  by 
McElwee  and  others,  and  did  not  mind  the  drizzling  rain.  As  the  case 
grew  more  and  more  serious,  Sam  Rutherford  began  to  drill  us,  and  we 
dropped  our  muskets  at  "  order  arms  "  as  heavily  as  we  could,  in  a  sort  of 
Chinese  effort  to  scare  off  the  enemy.  But  they  did  not  seem  to  scare  at  all. 
On  the  contrary,  they  howled  more  fiercely  and  drew  closer.  McElwee  was 
furious  at  the  enormity  of  a  "  mob,"  as  he  styled  us,  seizing  the  state  arms. 
The  people — the  unwashed  democracy — "must  restore  order !" 

Once  in  a  while  I  looked  out  of  one  of  the  western  windows,  and  could 
see  my  modest  dwelling,  where  dinner  was  on  the  table  at  1  o'clock.  Un- 
heroically,  I  wished  I  was  there,  and  even  fancied  I  could  sniff  the  odor  of 
roast  beef. 

After  drilling  awhile,  we  determined  to  load  ever  so  many  muskets,  and 
thus  multiply  ourselves,  but  on  looking  for  ammunition  could  find  none. 
We  saw  Papa  Emerson  outside,  advising  the  enemy  to  "go  away,  now," 
and  called  him.  He  came  in  at  the  small  door,  and  we  demanded  car 
tridges,  powder,  ball — every  thing ;  but  he  had  nothing.  Then  we  asked 
for  flints  to  put  in  the  musket  locks,  but  he  had  none.  This  was  the  last 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  Ill 

straw,  and  broke  the  camel's  back !    Captain  Rutherford  said  with  scorn 
ineffable — 

"  Not  even  flints  !" 

"  Here  we  are,"  said  I,  solemnly—"  volunteers  to  defend  state  property- 
risking  our  lives — and  no  ammunition — not  even  flints  for  empty  guns  !" 

"Flints,  thunder!"  said  William  Hood,  a  fat  clerk  in  the  state  depart 
ment—"  Wayne  took  Stony  Point  without  flints  !" 

Papa  Emerson  at  length  gave  us  the  victory  (?)  by  his  diplomatic  ability. 
He  parleyed  from  the  window  with  McElwee,  and  as  the  rain  was  increas 
ing,  the  besiegers  agreed  to  retire  if  the  garrison  would  evacuate— the  honors 
of  war  to  be  equally  divided.  As  we  went  down  stairs,  there  was  Hood, 
pointing  to  the  big  doors — 

"  You  had  'em  well  barricaded,  boys,  seem'  they  swing  out  /" 

The  drizzly  siege  and  the  gallant  defense  of  the  arsenal  constituted  the 
first  engagement  of  the  Buckshot  War.  About  3  o'clock  I  got  to  my  roast 
beef  dinner. 

It  was  the  same  evening  I  think  that  Alex.  Ramsey  and  myself  were 
seated  at  our  reporter's  table  in  the  Senate,  which  was  holding  a  night  ses 
sion  An  acrimonious  debate  was  going  on.  The  lobbies  were  full  of  demo 
crats,  and  many  of  ese  were  "full"  of  whisky.  There  were  some  ill- 
mannered  yells  from  "the  people,"  which  the  Senate  officers  could  not 
check,  and  Ramsey  an  L  were  jesting  about  the  ULruly  conduct  of  the  visi 
tors,  when  as  if  by  one  impulse  the  mob  clambered  over  the  rail  and  invaded 
the  Senate.  They  had  caught  sight  of  Stevens,  Penrose  and  Burden  stand 
ing  at  the  corner  of  the  Speaker's  chair,  and  dashed  towards  them ;  but 
these  gentlemen  disappeared  into  the  wash  room,  and  when  the  furious 
Philadelphia  county  voters  reached  it,  no  one  was  there.  The  three  whig 
leaders  had  jumped  from  a  rear  window  and  disappeared  in  the  darkness. 
The  Senate  did  not  adjourn ;  it  simply  melted  away. 

This  was  the  second  engagement  of  the  Buckshot  War — "  bloodless  as 
yet" — but  if  the  three  gentlemen  had  been  caught  the  result  might  have 
been  serious.  Neither  of  them  lacked  courage,  but  sometimes  "the  better 
part  of  valor  is  discretion." 

The  volunteer  regiment  arrived,  camped  on  the  bleak  hill  in  front  of  the 
capitol,  and  swore  privately  at  everybody  concerned  in  the  disturbance. 
After  two  or  three  days,  our  unpleasant  visitors  having  mostly  left,  the 
chilled  volunteer  soldiers  were  ordered  home,  and  all  was  quiet  on  the  Sus- 
quehanna  ; — the  House  having,  after  a  brief  inquiry,  disregarded  the  whig 
election  certificates  and  admitted  the  seven  democrats  from  Philadelphia 
county,  on  the  sole  ground  of  having  received  a  majority  of  votes. 

The  bloodless  Buckshot  War  was  ended,  and  what  might  have  been  a 
respectable  tragedy  had  turned  out  only  a  first-class  farce.  But  one  lesson 
taught  by  it  all  is,  that  in  the  long  run  it  is  best  not  to  cheat  at  elections,  or 
to  count  in  candidates  who  have  not  received  the  most  votes.  Subsequently 
some  of  the  mob  leaders  were  indicted,  but  Governor  Porter  had  appointed 


112  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

his  brother  James  M.,  Judge  of  Dauphin  county,  and  under  his  rulings  the 
defendants  got  off  scathless.  We  abused  the  Judge  to  our  hearts'  content 
in  the  whig  papers,  but  he  survived,  and  was  afterwards  Secretary  of  War 
for  a  while  under  President  Tyler.  < 

There  has  been  more  serious  war  in  America,  but  nothing  before  or  since 
has  equalled  the  Buckshot  War  for  ludicrous  incidents  (to  which  I  do  not 
pretend  to  do  justice),  and  at  the  same  time  possibilities  of  great  calamities. 
It  was  a  wonder  that  so  much  animosity  and  excitement  could  pervade  a 
crowded  town  for  several  days,  without  the  loss  of  life  or  limb ;  but  literally 
nobody  was  hurt.  An  ending  so  happy  to  scenes  so  perilous  could  not  occur 
now,  as  we  are  handier  with  the  revolver,  which  was  then  hardly  known. 
And  what  a  queer  military  history  mine  has  been :  a  gallant  defender  in 
1838  of  a  state  arsenal,  without  even  flints  for  the  old-fashioned  musket 
locks,  and  in  1846  one  of  an  army  to  conquer  a  foreign  province  without 
firing  a  gun— of  which  I  will  tell  the  true  tale  in  due  season ! 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  113 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

GOVERNOR  PORTER'S  RAILROAD  TO  ST.  LOUIS  —  FIRST  LOCOMOTIVE  IN  ILLINOIS 

—  NORTHERN  CROSS  RAILROAD  —  GEORGE  P.  PLANT  CHIEF  ENGINEER  —  A 
FICTITIOUS  GOVERNOR'S  MESSAGE  —  RAILROAD  TO  TEXAS  —  A  HIT  AT  LONG 
DOCUMENTS — WHITNEY  EXPLORES  —  JOHN   H.    PLUMBE   FIRST   SUGGESTS 
PACIFIC  RAILROAD — LEGISLATION  IN  MISSOURI — TEXAS  A  FAR-OFF  REGION 

—  RAILROADS  TO  MEXICO  —  CONTINENTAL  LINES  —  HINTON  ROWAN  HELP 
ER'S  BOOK  — MAJ.  HILDER'S  ESSAY— THREE  AMERICAS  RAILWAY  — STATES 
MANSHIP —  LOUISIANA     AND    TEXAS  —  MR.      SE  WARD'S     HEROIC    EFFORT  — 
ALASKA  —  SEALSKIN  SACQUES  —  TEXAS  WORTH   WELCOMING  —  SOLEMN    RE 
FLECTIONS    ON    HUMOR — LOCKE'S    MOON     HOAX — REJECTED    ADDRESSES  — 
LEGAL   TENDER    NOTES. 

David  R.  Porter  was  inaugurated  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  in  January, 
1839.  During  the  session  he  sent  to  the  Legislature  several  messages  on 
state  affairs,  forcibly  written,  and  containing  pertinent  and  useful  sugges 
tions.  I  have  long  since  known  that  he  was  a  wise  chief  magistrate,  but 
did  not  then  so  regard  him,  as  it  was  not  the  habit  of  party  men  in  old 
times  to  see  or  acknowledge  anything  good  in  the  men  or  measures  of  their 
political  adversaries.  In  one  of  his  messages,  January  26,  1839,  the  gover 
nor  spoke  of  the  importance  to  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  of  a  continuous 
railroad  to  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  and  this  suggestion  was  so  far  beyond  the 
bounds  of  our  vision  that  it  was  regarded  as  wild  and  extravagant.  In  all 
of  the  year  1839  there  were  only  1,920  miles  of  railroad  in  the  United  States, 
mainly  east  of  the  Alleghenies.  There  were  some  scattered  enterprises  in 
11  the  west,"  meaning  the  country  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Alleghe 
nies,  but  no  systems  or  long  lines  even  projected.  In  1838  a  locomotive, 
built  by  Grosvernor,  Ketchum  &  Co.,  of  Paterson,  New  Jersey,  was  brought 
up  the  Mississippi,  landed  from  the  steamboat  Chariton  at  Meredosia  on  the 
Illinois  river,  and  placed  on  a  track  in  Illinois  by  George  P.  Plant,  the 
Chief  Engineer  of  the  road,  afterwards  one  of  the  most  valued  citizens  of 
St.  Louis.  The  first  rail  of  the  "  Northern  Cross  Railroad,"  as  it  was  called, 
was  laid  May  9,  1838,  the  locomotive  arrived  September  6,  and  November  8 
was  put  on  the  rails,  of  which  eight  miles  were  laid,  and  made  a  trip  to  the 
end  of  the  track  and  return,  having  on  it  Governor  Duncan  of  Illinois, 


114  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

Murray  McConnell,  state  commissioner,  James  Dunlap  and  Thomas  T.  Jan 
uary,  contractors,  and  Charles  Collins  and  Miron  Leslie  of  St.  Louis,  invited 
guests.  Except  probably  an  engine  or  two  on  the  short  Pontchartrain  rail 
road  to  the  lake  from  New  Orleans,  this  was  I  think  the  first  locomotive  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley ;  and  of  all  the  gentlemen  who  took  the  first  ride  on 
it,  I  think  only  Mr.  January,  a  resident  of  St.  Louis  county,  survives.  The 
enterprising,  far-sighted  and  unappreciated  Charles  Collins,  and  the  genial 
Miron  Leslie,  were  long  since  taken,  and  only  Collins  street  in  St.  Louis 
saves  the  name  of  one  of  them  from  oblivion.  George  P.  Plant  was  one  of 
those  rare  men  whom  one  does  not  know  whether  most  to  esteem,  respect 
or  love ;  and  few  of  those  who  now  glance  at  his  portrait  in  the  St.  Louis 
Merchants  Exchange  have  any  conception  of  his  penetrating  good  sense, 
broad  information,  just  decisions,  and  solid  moral  worth,  which  were  so 
highly  estimated  by  those  who  knew  him. 

Considering  how  undeveloped  our  railroad  system  was  forty  years  ago,  and 
how  imperfectly  its  future  was  appreciated,  it  is  not  strange  that  Governor 
Porter's  suggestion  of  a  railroad  from  Pennsylvania  to  St.  Louis  was  re 
garded  as  a  matter  not  unfit  for  ridicule  ;  and  it  was  my  sad  fate  to  cast  a 
little  pebble  of  fun  at  it.  The  day  before  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature  in 
January  1840,  the  paper  of  which  I  was  the  editor  appeared  with  what  pur 
ported  to  be  the  governor's  annual  message,  introduced  editorially  as  fol 
lows: 

"  Our  Ariel  having  been  for  some  days  hovering  about  the  Executive 
Chamber,  has  furnished  us  with  the  following  transcript  of  the  message  of 
the  governor,  which  we  hasten  to  lay  before  our  readers  in  advance  of  the 
regular  delivery.  We  are  certain  the  public  will  appreciate  our  extraordi 
nary  exertions  to  give  the  earliest  cabinet  copy  of  this  important  state 
paper.  We  are  even  before  the  official  journals." 

Then  follow  thirteen  columns  of  close  print,  with  official  tables  from  the 
departments,  and  all  the  outside  marks  ot'  a  genuine  state  paper;  and  an 
edition  was  sent  to  Philadelphia  for  sale  there.  The  first  paragraph  read  : 

"The  natural  course  of  time  will  in  a  week  from  to-morrow  bring  the 
anniversary  of  the  day  on  which  my  inauguration  as  Governor  of  the  Com 
monwealth  of  Pennsylvania  opened  a  new  era  in  her  history.  Coming  into 
power  as  I  did  under  peculiar,  and  in  the  opinion  of  many  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  suspicious  circumstances,  you  will  not  consider  a  reference  to  my 
own  personal  feelings  and  views  in  bad  taste.  Although  a  year  has  not 
elapsed  since  I  assumed  the  arduous  duties  of  my  present  station— or,  as 
some  would  more  poetically  express  it,  since  I  entered  the  green  fields  of 
power  and  place— yet  I  have  had  ample  experience  of  the  embarrassments, 
toils  and  anxieties  incident  to  the  high  and  dignified  functions  which,  as 
Chief  Magistrate  of  a  great  Commonwealth,  I  am  called  upon  to  exercise ; 
and  I  can  assure  you  that  the  station  I  now  occupy  is  full  of  cares  and  an 
noyances.  Anxious,  however,  as  I  always  have  been  to  serve  the  public— 
not  so  much  for  the  paltry  emoluments  attached  to  the  office  as  for  the  good 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  115 

of  the  people — I  have  endeavored  to  bear  all  my  burdens  with  becoming 
fortitude,  resignation,  and  devotion  to  the  public  service ;  and  I  am  certain, 
gentlemen,  that  you  and  your  constituents  will  duly  appreciate  my  sacri 
fices  of  time,  ease  and  labor,  and  my  excellent  management  of  public  affairs, 
when  the  gubernatorial  election  of  1841  shall  afford  you  an  opportunity  to 
honor  me  by  a  re-election  to  the  position  I  now  occupy  and  adorn." 

By  the  time  the  innocent  reader  in  1840  had  got  through  this  paragraph, 
he  began  to  think  it  rather  queer  talk  from  a  governor,  but  if  a  good  demo 
crat,  he  concluded  it  was  all  right,  and  read  on.  The  second  paragraph 
ran : 

"It  affords  me  infinite  pleasure  to  be  able  to  assure  the  representatives 
of  the  people  that  the  crops  of  the  past  season  have  been  abundant,  and 
that  Providence  continues  to  visit  His  blessings  upon  a  wicked  and  perverse 
world.  But  my  well  known  hostility  towards  any  union  of  Church  and 
State,  and  the  reflection  that  it  might  be  looked  upon  as  hypocritical,  forbid 
any  recommendation  by  me  of  a  general  thanksgiving.  The  same  reasons 
prevented  my  yielding  last  autumn  to  the  solicitations  of  some  of  my  friends, 
that  I  should  proclaim  a  day  of  feasting  and  thanksgiving  to  be  observed 
throughout  the  Commonwealth.  I  am  also  happy  to  inform  you  that  a 
reduction  in  the  price  of  flour  has  taken  place,  extremely  advantageous  to 
the  interests  of  the  purchasers  of  that  article,  but  unhappily  adverse  to  the 
interests  of  the  sellers — for  which  reason  I  would  recommend  some  legisla 
tive  action  having  in  view  the  reconciliation  of  these  antagonistic  interests  ; 
so  that  the  seller  and  purchaser  may  both  profit  by  the  fluctuations  of  trade, 
instead  of  one  of  them  being  exposed  to  loss,  as  is  now  the  case,  by  every 
ripple  on  the  bosom  of  the  commerce  in  flour.  I  feel  satisfied  that  the 
accomplishment  of  this  desirable  desideratum  will  crown  my  executive  and 
your  legislative  career  with  glory." 

This  paragraph  generally  brought  out  the  opinion  that  the  governor 
"must  be  a  (blank)  fool,"  even  from  faithful  democrats;  and  the  perusal 
could  go  but  a  little  way  further  before  the  fictitious  character  of  the  state 
paper  was  detected,  and  then  the  reader  was  apt  to  take  more  pleasure  in 
the  joke  than  he  could  possibly  have  got  out  of  a  real  document.  The  para 
graph  on  the  railroad  to  St.  Louis  was  brief  but  funny  when  first  printed  : 

"During  the  last  session  of  the  legislature,  in  a  special  message,  I  took 
occasion  to  recommend  the  construction  of  a  continuous  railroad  to  St.  Louis 
in  the  state  of  Missouri.  As  there  are  few  spectacles  more  sublime  than  the 
voluntary  retraction  of  an  erroneous  opinion  by  a  public  officer,  1  have 
determined  to  present  that  spectacle  to  the  world.  I  therefore  withdraw 
my  former  recommendation,  and  in  its  stead  recommend  a  continuous  rail 
road  to  the  Republic  of  Texas.  This  is  done  because  more  of  our  party 
friends  are  traveling  in  the  latter  direction." 

For  the  reader  to  appreciate  the  point  of  the  last  two  sentences  he  must 
remember,  if  he  ever  knew,  that  previous  to  1840  some  defaulting  federal 
officers  belonging  to  the  democratic  party  were  said  to  have  taken  refuge  in 


116  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEAKS. 

Texas,  which  had  been  for  a  long  time  regarded  as  a  sort  of  sanctuary  for 
rogues  of  all  kinds.  The  pretended  message  continued  to  hit  off  party 
events  and  acts  of  state  and  federal  politicians  in  a  way  to  amuse  cotempo- 
raries.  Its  closing  paragraph  was  a  decided  hit,  as  Governor  Porter's  real 
message,  delivered  next  day,  was  about  double  the  length  of  any  ever  before 
delivered : 

"This  paper  has  already  grown  to  a  length  somewhat  unwieldy.  Do 
not  understand  me,  however,  as  censuring  long  messages.  On  the  contrary, 
I  highly  applaud  the  evident  improvement  in  this  matter  of  late  years. 
But  we  have  not  yet  reached  perfection,  as  improvement  in  the  length  of 
state  papers  will  not  have  reached  its  culminating  point  until  the  annual 
message  shall  be  of  such  length  that  the  whole  year  previous  to  iis  advent 
will  be  occupied  by  the  governor  in  its  preparation,  and  the  whole  year 
subsequent  by  the  people  in  its  perusal." 

Barring  a  few  sentences  which  did  injustice  to  individuals,  not  surpris 
ing  when  party  animosity  was  red-hot,  I  could  read  over  that  sham  mess 
age  with  satisfaction  if  I  had  time  to  spare  for  reading  a  production  which 
did  not  depend  on  uncouth  spelling  or  absurd  exaggeration  for  its  attrac 
tions  ;  but  even  in  Pennsylvania  few  of  its  allusions  or  points  would  now  be 
understood.  The  humor  was  throughout  of  the  most  genial  character,  and 
the  ludicrous  light  in  which  persons  and  things  were  uumaliciously  placed, 
was  entertaining  at  the  time;  but  of  all  the  persons  mentioned  in  the  ficti 
tious  message  possibly  not  half  a  dozen  are  living,  and  I  can  only  think  of 
one. 

Although  it  was  not  in  January,  1840,  considered  at  all  out  of  place  in 
Pennsylvania  to  fire  off  a  squib  of  ridicule  at  the  governor's  project  of  a  con 
tinuous  line  of  railroad  to  St.  Louis,  yet  so  rapid  was  the  progress  of  ideas 
that  only  five  years  later  (in  1845)  Asa  Whitney,  starting  from  Lake  Michi 
gan,  crossed  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  part  of  what  is  now  Dakota  to  a  point 
on  the  Missouri  river  above  the  present  site  of  Yank  ton,  exploring  the  line 
for  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific,  of  which  he  was  then  the  most  prominent  advo 
cate  ;  the  first  public  suggestion  of  a  Pacific  railroad,  so  far  as  I  am  informed, 
having  been  made  in  a  published  letter  of  John  H.  Plumbe,  in  1833  or  '35,  he 
then  residing  at  Dubuque,  Iowa.  In  March,  1849,  Thomas  Allen,  then  in 
the  Legislature  of  Missouri,  procured  the  passage  of  an  act  incorporating 
the  "  Pacific  Railroad,"  the  first  act  of  the  kind  ever  passed  ;  and  in  October, 
1849,  not  ten  years  after  the  date  of  my  sham  governor's  message,  a  national 
convention  was  held  at  St.  Louis  to  urge  a  continental  railroad. 

As  to  Texas,  we  of  Pennsylvania  regarded  that  Republic  in  1840  as  a  far- 
off  region  of  turbulent  adventurers  and  worse  characters ;  and  we  little 
dreamed  that  in  less  than  twenty-two  years,  the  United  States,  after  the 
reluctant  admittance  of  "  the  lone  star  state  "  into  the  Union  (against  many 
vigorous  and  violent  protests,  mainly  from  the  people  of  the  northern 
states),  would  be  fighting  to  keep  her  in  !  My  suggestion  of  a  railroad  to 
Texas  was  thought  wild  and  absurd  enough  to  be  funny  as  a  jibe  at  the 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  117 

governor  ;  but  if  I  bad  suggested,  even  in  frolicsome  fun,  a  continuous  rail 
road  into  the  Republic  of  Mexico — now  doubly  realized  by  the  lines  of  the 
Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  and  of  the  Texas  and  Pacific  at  El  Paso, 
and  by  the  Gould  Southwestern  System  at  Laredo— the  idea  would  have 
seemed  too  intolerably  absurd  even  for  a  fictitious  governor's  message,  and 
my  effort  to  amuse  would  have  been  regarded  as  depending  for  its  humor, 
like  some  writings  of  recent  times,  on  distortion  of  facts  and  able-bodied 
exaggeration.  If  I  had  gone  further  and  foretold  the  number  of  lines  across 
the  continent  to  be  materialized  in  1883,  and  had  predicted  that  the  public 
mind  would  receive  with  even  gravity  Hinton  Rowan  Helper's  book  advo 
cating  a  scheme  of  continuous  rails  from  Hudson  Bay  to  Patagonia — and 
which  is  day  by  day  in  course  of  realization  by  lines  in  our  own  west  as 
well  as  in  Mexico — they  would  have  shut  me  up  in  a  state  mansion,  harder 
to  get  out  of  than  the  arsenal  during  the  Buckshot  War  !  The  interesting 
facts  so  happily  grouped,  and  the  broad  views  presented  in  the  sterling 
prize  essay  of  Major  F.  F.  Hilder,  of  St.  Louis,  as  well  as  in  the  other  essays, 
and  in  the  phenominal  poem  of  Mr.  F.  D.  Carpenter  (in  which  rhyme  and 
reason  effervesce  and  sparkle) — advocating  the  "  Three  Americas  Railway," 
all  contained  in  the  book  of  Mr.  Helper,  a  citizen  of  St.  Louis,  whose  hobby 
snuffs  the  odor  of  industry,  progress  and  civilization  from  afar — would  have 
been  thrust  aside  forty-three  years  ago  as  the  vagaries  of  disordered  brains. 
But  "  nous  avons  changd  tout  cela,"  as  Napoleon  said — we  have  changed  all 
that. 

The  Republic  of  Texas,  whose  lone  star  I  had  ingloriously  abandoned  at 
Louisville  in  1837  (the  odium  of  desertion  palliated  somewhat  by  payment 
to  Col.  Behrenbeck  of  six  dollars  for  deck  passage  from  Pittsburgh),  became 
one  of  the  United  States  in  1845,  by  statesmanship  akin  to  that  which  had 
forty-two  years  before  acquired  Louisiana.  The  acquisition  of  Texas,  like 
that  of  Louisiana,  was  distasteful  to  many  people  east  of  the  Alleghenies, 
who  feared  the  "aggression  "  of  another  part  of  the  country.  Some  of  them 
even  denied  our  ability  to  manage  an  extended  empire  under  our  form  of 
government;  and  if  I  had  time  and  space  I  could  entertain  and  perhaps 
amuse  the  reader  by  giving  extracts  from  the  utterances  of  great  leaders  of 
opinion  north  of  the  M.  and  D.  line,  now  proved  to  have  been  lacking  in 
practical  wisdom.  We  are  now  posterity,  as  well  in  regard  to  the  acquisi 
tion  of  Texas  as  of  Louisiana,  and  we  appreciate  the  policy  which  gave  us 
the  domain  we  had  (3,025,600  square  miles),  before  Mr.  Seward — in  a  heroic 
effort  to  imitate  anterior  statesmanship  in  kind  at  least  if  he  could  not  in 
degree — purchased  Alaska.  I  liked  the  idea  of  getting  Alaska,  not  only 
because  it  gave  us  territorial  reach  to  a  meridian  of  longitude  as  far  west  of 
San  Francisco  as  New  York  is  east  of  that  city,  but  also  because  I  supposed 
that  all  womankind  (Heaven  bless  'em !)  would  at  last  have  sealskin 
sacques ; — not  then  knowing  that  there  is  only  one  kind  of  seal,  the  Callo- 
rhinus  ursinus,  that  is  fur-bearing,  and  that  as  only  100,000  males  a  year  can 
be  taken,  for  fear  of  their  extinction,  there  are  not  enough  skins  to  go  round ! 


118  NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

The  Phoca  vitulina,  or  hair  seal,  is  of  no  use  for  my  lady's  mantle ;  and  the 
Eumetopias,  or  sea  lion,  does  not  count  at  all ;  while  the  Odobcenus  obesus, 
or  walrus,  could  have  been  got  at  without  buying  the  Bering  sea  from  the 
Czar.  Hence,  although  Alaska  has  577,000  square  miles  of  area,  and  Texas 
only  275,000,  yet  I  am  forced  to  conclude  that  the  men  who  acquired  Texas 
made  a  better  bargain  for  us  than  Mr.  Seward  in  purchasing  Alaska.  With 
her  fertile  soil ;  her  population  already  two  millions,  and  room  for  ten  mil 
lions  more ;  her  six  thousand  and  more  miles  of  railroad,  daily  increasing  ; 
her  large  school  fund  in  the  treasury,  and  in  reserve  more  than  fifty  million 
dollars  worth  of  land,  making  a  greater  educational  endowment  than  any 
other  country  ever  had — it  seems  to  me  that  Texas  was  worth  welcoming, 
as  I  thought  when  she  came  to  us,  and  that  those  who  had  opposed  her 
reception  did  wisely  in  resolving  to  keep  her  in. 

While  my  governor's  message  had  humor,  it  could  not  have  more  than 
temporary  attention.  Better  subjects  are  needed  for  great  or  permanent 
success  in  any  work  of  humor.  My  topics  were  of  narrow  and  transient 
interest,  and  only  familiar  to  the  politicians  of  the  state.  Cervantes  in  Don 
Quixotte  chose  a  subject  with  which  all  civilized  Europe  was  familiar,  and 
the  sentiments  ascribed  to  his  hero  could  be  appreciated  in  other  lands  as 
well  as  in  Spain.  A  published  hoax  to  be  successful  for  more  than  a  few 
days  must  embrace  something  of  general  interest  and  importance,  or  else 
the  best  humor  may  be  wasted.  The  most  successful  thing  of  this  kind  in 
English  literature  was  I  think  the  great  "  Moon  Hoax"  in  1835,  and  even 
that  was  soon  dropped  out  of  current  memory,  and  has  possibly  not  been 
preserved.  The  article  was  from  the  pen  of  Richard  Adams  Locke,  a  "jour 
nalist,"  and  appeared  in  the  New  York  Sun.  It  was  an  admirably  written 
account  of  discoveries  in  the  moon  by  Sir  John  Herschell,  at  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  where  he  had  gone  with  his  new  telescope,  understood  to  have 
greater  power  than  any  previously  constructed.  All  laymen  were  taken  in 
by  it,  and  the  "  scientists  "  were  much  exercised  over  it,  many  believing-  it, 
and  others  uncertain  whether  or  not  to  credit  the  wonderful  tale.  With  the 
utmost  particularity  the  details  were  given  of  the  erection  and  operation  of 
the  telescope,  and  of  the  amazing  discoveries,  but  I  remember  of  the  latter 
only  the  man-bat — vespertilio  homo — which  was  alleged  to  have  been  dis 
tinctly  seen  by  Sir  John,  thus  proving  the  moon  to  have  animal  life  upon  it ! 
Mr.  Locke's  fiction  could  give  no  one  serious  pain,  was  extremely  amusing, 
and  tended  to  put  the  reader  on  actual  investigation  into  the  science  of 
astronomy.  It  taught  astronomy  just  as  Irving's  Diedrich  Knickerbocker 
taught  the  true  history  of  the  settlement  and  early  growth  of  New  York,  by 
exciting  a  desire  for  genuine  information  on  subjects  so  humorously  treated. 

To  those  familiar  with  the  works  of  the  authors,  some  of  whose  produc 
tions  were  parodied  by  James  and  Horace  Smith  of  London  about  sixty  years 
ago,  in  the  "  Rejected  Addresses,"  those  remarkable  parodies  were  a  rare 
treat.  The  Drury  Lane  Theatre  had  been  rebuilt  after  its  destruction  by 
fire,  and  the  Smiths  published  what  purported  to  be  the  unsuccessful  pieces 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  119 

which  had  competed  for  the  prize  given  for  a  poem  to  be  spoken  on  the 
night  of  the  first  performance,  and  hence  the  name  of  "  Rejected  Addresses." 
Byron,  Scott  and  Campbell,  and  other  famous  poets,  were  parodied  so  hap 
pily  that  Sir  Walter  is  reported  to  have  said,  when  he  read  the  imitation  of 
the  battle  in  Marmion  (as  embodied  in  describing  the  exploits  of  the  firemen 
at  the  burning  theatre)  that  he  certainly  must  have  written  the  piece  him 
self,  but  had  really  forgotten  when  and  where !  The  poem  of  Marmion  says : 

"Charge,  Chester,  charge!    On,  Stanley,  on! 
Were  the  last  words  of  Marmion." 

The  graphic  description  of  the  burning  theatre  in  the  parody  commemorate 
the  Chief  of  the  Firemen  : 

"  What  are  they  fear'd  on?    Zounds!    Odd  rot  'em 
Were  the  last  words  of  Higginbottom." 

It  is  questionable  if  the  public  taste  has  not  so  far  changed— I  almost 
said  deteriorated — that  humor  like  that  of  Irving,  or  the  Smiths,  or  Richard 
Adams  Locke,  would  be  unpalatable  now,  and  for  this  reason  (if  for  no 
other)  I  have  decided  not  to  write  like  Irving,  or  the  Smiths,  or  Locke. 
Hence,  as  I  have  no  gift  for  exaggeration,  distortion  of  facts,  burlesque,  or 
drollery,  enabling  me  to  caricature  men  and  things  and  women,  for  the 
amusement  of  readers,  without  reference  to  the  increase  of  their  knowledge, 
the  bettering  of  their  morals,  or  the  improvement  of  their  manners — I  can 
only  expect  my  "Notes  "  to  be  regarded  as  a  legal  tender  because  of  their 
plain  and  simple  truth  to  nature  and  actual  life. 


120  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

NATIONAL  CONVENTION  —  HARRISON  AND  TYLER  —  JAMES  B ARBOUR'S  SPEECH  — 
HORACE  GREELEY'S  REPORT  —  A  BALTIMORE  EDITOR  —  SUGGESTION  OF 
THOMAS  ELDER  —  AN  AMATEUR  ARTIST — LOG  CABIN  TRANSPARENCY  — 
FREDERICK  FRALEY  —  FIRST  SONG  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN  —  COLUMBUS  CON 
VENTION  —  ALEXIS  MUDD'S  SONG  —  TIPPECANOE  AND  TYLER  TOO  — OGLE'S 
SPEECH  —  GOLD  SPOONS  —  HARD  CIDER  —  PETER  THE  HERMIT  AND  WALTER 
THE  PENNILESS  —  REPUBLICS  ARE  UNGRATEFUL  —  THE  EDITOR'S  MONU 
MENT  BEGUN. 

In  December,  1839,  a  national  convention  of  the  whig  party  was  held  in 
Harrisburg,  and  nominated  William  Henry  Harrison,  of  Ohio,  for  President 
and  John  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  for  Vice-President.  I  remember  little  of  the 
convention  except  that  James  Barbour,  of  Virginia,  presided,  and  that 
Horace  Greeley  was  there  as  a  reporter  for  his  paper.  On  tak.ing  the  chair 
Mr.  Barbour  made  a  glowing  speech,  which  Horace  reported  verbatim,  but 
of  which  I  was  able  to  catch  only  the  strongest  sentences.  As  an  illustra 
tion  of  how  too  many  words  may  spoil  a  printed  speech,  I  would  like,  if  I 
had  them,  to  present  both  reports.  That  of  Horace  was  weak  and  tedious 
compared  with  mine.  I  had  caught  all  the  points  and  best  sentences,  and 
these  made  a  discourse  so  compact  and  effective  that  the  newspapers  printed 
my  report  as  an  example  of  wonderfully  terse  and  vigorous  oratory.  It  had 
only  the  sharp  thunder-claps,  but  Horace  had  put  in  all  the  rumblings.  A 
man  of  most  unusual  appearance  was  Horace  then — the  milkiest-looking 
person  I  ever  saw,  but  good  material  in  him  for  koumiss — and  he  was 
already  recognized  as  a  man  of  much  intellectual  power. 

Soon  after  the  nomination  of  Harrison  and  Tyler  (Mr,  Van  Buren,  the 
President,  being  a  candidate  for  reelection),  an  editor  in  Baltimore  was 
the  unconscious  instrument  in  starting  the  most  remarkable  party  displays 
— or  absurdities,  if  you  please— ever  witnessed  on  the  continent.  In  Decem 
ber,  the  Baltimore  Republican,  a  Democratic  paper,  said  of  Gen.  Harrison : 

"  Give  him  a  barrel  of  hard  cider  and  a  pension  of  two  thousand  a  year, 
and,  our  word  for  it,  he  will  sit  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  a  log  cabin  by 
the  side  of  a  '  sea  coal '  fire  and  study  moral  philosophy." 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN   SIXTY    TEAKS.  121 

There  was  nothing-  gross  or  very  abusive  in  this  sentence,  but  it  very 
possibly  carried  the  election.  The  whig-  papers  were  at  once  full  of  right 
eous  indignation.  It  was  monstrous  that  a  "vile  locofoco  paper"  should 
speak  so  contemptuously  of  our  candidate,  the  son  of  a  signer  of  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence  ;  the  wise  governor  of  the  northwest  territory  ;  the 
successful  general  who  never  lost  a  battle ;  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe,  whose 
martial  deeds  had  saved  the  entire  northwest  from  the  Indian  tomahawk 
and  scalping  knife ;  the  soldier,  scholar  and  Christian  gentleman,  exemp 
lar  of  all  the  virtues,  quiet  on  his  farm  at  North  Bend,  Ohio! 

In  January,  Mr.  Thomas  Elder,  a  gentleman  of  three  score  in  years,  and 
a  big  score  in  the  bank  of  which  he  was  president,  sent  a  request  for  me  to 
visit  him  one  evening  at  his  mansion,  fronting  the  Susquehanna  river,  the 
same  wherein  Gen.  Simon  Cameron  now  enjoys  his  otium  cum  dignitate;  a 
house  of  blue  limestone,  and  of  historic  interest,  built  by  John  Harris,  the 
founder  of  Harrisburg,  who  was  in  1720  tied  to  a  mulberry  tree  near  the 
front  door  to  be  burnt  alive  by  a  party  of  playful  Indians,  and  was  rescued 
by  some  friendly  braves  who  crossed  the  river  for  that  purpose.  Mr.  Elder 
had  noted  the  slur  on  Gen.  Harrison  by  the  Baltimore  paper,  and  thought 
we  ought  to  make  use  of  it ;  build  a  cabin,  or  something  of  that  kind,  which 
would  appeal  to  the  eye  of  the  multitude.  He  was  a  shrewd  old  gentleman, 
Mr.  Elder  was,  who  had  excellent  Madeira,  and  well  knew  that  passion  and 
prejudice,  properly  aroused  and  directed,  would  do  about  as  well  as  princi 
ple  and  reason  in  a  party  contest. 

We  talked  the  matter  over,  and  while  we  sipped  our  wine  and  gravely 
assured  each  other  that  the  treatment  of  the  old  hero  by  the  Baltimore 
editor  was  intolerable,  I  had  my  pencil  at  work,  sketching  an  imaginary 
log-cabin  with  a  coon-skin  tacked  on  it,  an  outside  chimney  of  sticks  and 
mud,  a  wood-pile  consisting  of  a  log  with  an  ax  stuck  in  it,  and  other  acces 
sories  ;  and  on  taking  leave  told  him  I  would  try  to  put  his  idea  into  opera 
tion.  At  home  I  completed  my  sketch  much  to  the  amusement  of  the 
family,  who  had  no  very  exalted  notion  of  my  skill  as  an  artist.  Next  day  I 
had  a  carriage  painter  confidentially  at  work  on  a  transparency. 

On  the  20th  of  January  we  had  a  mass  meeting  at  Harrisburg  to  ratify 
the  nominations.  As  soon  as  the  chairman  took  his  seat  I  addressed  him, 
stating  that  our  grand  old  hero,  the  soldier  and  statesman,  had  been  in 
sulted  most  infamously  by  the  Baltimore  Republican,  and  concluded  by 
moving  for  a  committee  of  seven  to  bring  into  the  meeting  "  the  best  repre 
sentation  to  be  got  of  Gen.  Harrison's  log  cabin."  (Carried  by  acclama 
tion.)  When  our  committee  reentered,  Sam  Clark  bearing  aloft  the  lighted 
transparency,  with  the  log  cabin  on  one  side,  and  flags  and  mottoes  on  the 
others 

"  At  once  there  rose  so  wild  a  yell, 
As  all  the  fiends  from  heaven  who  fell 
Had  pealed  the  banner-cry  of  hell," 

as  Sir  Walter  puts  it ;  and  Mr.  Frederick  Fraley,  a  senator  from  Philadel- 


122  NOTES   TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

phia,  then  addressing  the  meeting,  did  not  know,  as  he  trembled  in  his 
Quaker  shoes,  but  what  another  Buckshot  War  was  breaking  out,  till  he 
turned  and  saw  the  glowing  transparency,  when  he  caught  the  idea  at  once, 
and  descanted  so  eloquently  on  the  virtues  and  charms  of  Harrison's  plain 
and  unpretentious  life  that  never  an  orator  in  gold  spectacles  equaled  him. 
Senator  Fraley  rose  to  the  occasion  and  seemed  to  draw  it  up  with  him,  and 
for  an  hour  kept  the  great  meeting  in  a  frenzy  of  enthusiasm.  Shrewd  Mr. 
Elder's  idea  had  borne  fruit  at  once.  Twenty-eight  years  later,  when  the 
National  Board  of  Trade  was  organized  at  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Fraley  was 
made  president  of  it,  and  it  afforded  me  much  pleasure  to  reciprocate  by  his 
nomination  to  that  office  the  compliment  he  had  so  handsomely  paid  my 
transparency  in  1840. 

On  the  22d  of  February  a  state  mass  convention  assembled  at  Columbus, 
Ohio,  at  which  log  cabins  on  wheels  appeared  in  the  grand  procession.  If 
Sir  Walter  Scott  was  justified  in  collecting  the  Minstrelsy  of  the  Scottish 
Border,  I  may  be  permitted  to  conserve  one  of  the  songs  of  the  Columbus 
convention,  as  the  singing  part  of  the  odd  campaign  began  then  and 
there.  The  Clark  county  delegation  had  a  log  cabin  011  wheels,  and  as  they 
passed  along  the  streets,  sang  from  the  inside  and  roof  the  first,  as  I  think, 
of  the  numerous  songs  of  1840.  It  ran  to  the  tune  of  "Highland  Laddie:" 

THE  LOG  CABIN  SONG. 

Oh,  where,  tell  me  where,  was  your  Buckeye  Cabin  made? 

Oh,  where,  tell  me  where,  was  your  Buckeye  Cabin  made? 

'Twas  built  among  the  merry  boys  who  wield  the  plow  and  spade,  * 

Where  the  log  cabins  stand  in  the  bonnie  Buckeye  shade. 

Oh,  what,  tell  me  what,  is  to  be  your  cabin's  fate? 
Oh,  what,  tell  me  what,  is  to  be  your  cabin's  fate? 
We'll  wheel  it  to  the  Capitol,  and  place  it  there  in  state, 
For  a  token  and  a  sign  of  the  bonnie  Buckeye  State. 

Oh,  why,  tell  me  why,  does  your  Buckeye  Cabin  go? 
Oh,  why,  tell  me  why,  does  your  Buckeye  Cabin  go? 
It  goes  against  the  spoilsmen,  for  well  its  builders  know 
It  was  Harrison  who  fought  for  the  cabins  long  ago. 

Oh,  what,  tell  me  what,  then,  will  little  Martin  do? 

Oh,  what,  tell  me  what,  then,  will  little  Martin  do? 

He'll  "follow  in  the  footsteps"  of  Price  and  Swartwout,  too, 

While  the  log  cabins'  ring  with  old  Tippecanoe. 

Oh,  who  fell  before  him  in  battle— tell  me  who? 
Oh,  who  fell  before  him  in  battle— tell  me  who? 
He  drove  the  savage  legions,  and  British  armies  too, 
At  the  Kapids,  and  the  Thames,  and  old  Tippecanoe. 

By  whom,  tell  me  whom,  will  the  battle  next  be  won? 
By  whom,  tell  me  whom,  will  the  battle  next  be  won? 
The  spoilers  and  leg  treasurers  will  soon  begin  to  run, 
And  the  "  log  cabin  candidate  "  will  march  to  Washington. 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  123 

A  cotemporary  account  says  of  this  song :  il  The  cabin  was  surrounded 
by  a  dense  mass  of  people,  and  calls  were  loud  for  a  repetition  of  this  song. 
Again  and  again  was  it  repeated,  until  many  caught  the  words  of  the  verses 
and  sang  them  over  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  could  not  get  within  hear 
ing  distance.  The  musical  propensity  spread  rapidly  among  the  crowd. 
Songs  were  written,  printed  and  in  the  hands  of  hundreds  in  a  short  time. 
Everybody  was  singing." 

After  the  convention  had  dispersed  one  of  the  home-bred  poets,  who 
have  always  been  numerous  in  Ohio,  published  a  descriptive  ballad,  of 
which  I  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  get  a  copy.  It  runs  to  the  old  tune  of 
"Rosin  the  Bow." 

THE  HARKISON  CONVENTION. 

I'll  tell  you  about  a  convention 
Which  has  made  the  Vanjacks  all  look  blue; 

It  has  lately  been  held  in  Columbus 
To  honor  Old  Tippecanoe.     . 

From  the  East  and  the  West  came  in  thousands, 
And  the  South  and  the  North  poured  in,  too, 

As  if  heaven  and  earth  were  all  moving 
In  favor  of  Tippecanoe. 

There  were  steamboats  and  forts  and  log  cabins, 
And  a  beautiful  Cleveland  brig,  too; 

All  drawn  on  wheels,  too,  by  horses- 
Hurrah  for  Old  Tippecanoe! 

Farm-wagons,  canoes  and  stage-coaches, 

And  carriages,  also,  a  few, 
Came  up  there  all  flll'd  to  o'erflowing 

With  sons  of  Old  Tippecanoe. 

The  air  was  all  filled  with  bright  banners, 

Red,  white,  purple,  green  and  true  blue, 
With  inscriptions  and  mottoes  upon  them, 

All  about  our  Old  Tippecanoe. 

On  the  first  day  the  sun  shone  with  splendor, 

On  the  next  the  rain  fell  and  wind  blew, 
But  none  of  us  cared  for  the  weather, 

True  soldiers  of  Tippecanoe. 

We  marched  through  the  streets  of  Columbus, 

And  bravely  we  tramped  the  mud  through, 
To  show  to  the  silk-stocking  gentiy 

How  we'd  stick  to  Old  Tippecanoe. 

And  the  ladies  they  flocked  to  the  windows 

In  numbers  I  say  not  a  few, 
And  held  out  their  star-spangled  banners 

In  honor  of  Tippecanoe. 

They  called  us  rag-barons  and  dandies, 

And  only  a  ruffle -shirt  ci-ew ; 
But  they  see  now  the  bone  and  the  sinew — 

All  go  for  Old  Tippecanoe! 


124  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

This  ballad,  giving-  so  graphic  an  account  of  the  display  and  so  forcible  a 
demonstration  of  the  fervid  spirit  which  animated  the  crowds  at  Columbus, 
became  popular,  especially  in  Ohio,  and,  as  the  tune  was  easily  caught,  was 
sung  on  all  occasions.  At  whig  meetings  hundreds  or  thousands  of  voices 
would  roar  out  the  chorus  in  a  way  to  "make  the  welkin  ring,"  if  it  ever 
rings  to  a  partisan  song.  Only  imagine  the  chorus  • 

AJl  go  for  Old  Tippecanoe! 
All  go  for  Old  Tippecanoe! 
But  they  see  now  the  bone  and  the  sinew 
All  go  for  Old  Tippecanoe! 

In  preserving  this  ballad  as  part  of  the  history  of  the  furore  of  1840,  I 
regret  that  I  cannot  give  the  notes  of  the  old  tune  for  the  benefit  of  those 
who  have  never  heard  it.  If  I  could  they  would  be  tempted  to  try  their 
sweet  voices  on  the  old  ballad. 

A  very  popular  and  effective  song,  which  was  sung  in  every  state,  and 
always  with  fervent  enthusiasm,  was  written  by  the  late  Major  Alexis 
Mudd,  of  Missouri,  then,  I  believe,  not  out  of  his  teens.  Major  Mudd  was 
we]l  known  as  a  merchant  of  St.  Louis,  and  a  gallant  officer  of  the  Union 
army.  The  song  was  entitled  the 

LOG  CABIN  RAISING. 

Come  all  you  log  cabin  boys,  we're  goin'  to  have  a  raisin', 

We've  got  a  job  on  hand  that  we  think  will  be  pleasin': 

We'll  turn  out  and  build  Old  Tip  a  new  cabin, 

And  we'll  finish  it  off  with  chinkin.'  and  daubin'. 

We  want  all  the  log  cabin  boys  in  the  nation 

To  be  on  the  ground  when  we  lay  the  foundation, 

And  we'll  make  all  the  office-holders  think  it's  amazin  « 

The  fun  we'll  have  at  Old  Tippecanoes  raisin'. 

On  the  thirtieth  day  of  next  October 
"We'll  take  some  hard  cider,  but  we'll  all  keep  sober; 
We'll  shoulder  our  axes  and  cut  down  the  timber 
And  have  our  cabin  done  by  the  second  of  December. 
We'll  have  it  well  chink'd  and  we'll  have  on  the  cover 
Of  good  soiind  clapboards  and  the  weight  poles  over, 
And  a  good  wide  chimney  for  the  fire  to  blaze  in; 
So  come  on,  boys,  to  Old  Tippecanoe's  raisin'. 

Ohio  will  find  the  house  log  timber 

And  Old  Virginia,  as  you'll  remember, 

Will  find  the  timber  for  the  clapboards  and  ciiinkin'. 

'Twill  all  be  the  first  rate  stuff  I'm  thinkin'. 

And  when  we  want  to  daub  it,  it  happens  very  lucky, 

That  we've  got  the  best  Clay  in  Old  Kentucky; 

For  there's  no  other  state  has  such  good  Clays  in 

To  make  the  mortar  for  Old  Tippecanoe's  raisin'. 

For  the  hauling  of  the  logs  we'll  call  on  Pennsylvania, 
For  their  Conestoga  teams  will  pull  as  well  as  any, 
And  the  Yankees  and  York  State  and  all  of  the  others 
Will  come  and  help  us  lift  like  so  many  brothers. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  125 

The  Hoosiers  and  the  Suckers  and  the  Wolverine  farmers, 
They  all  know  how  to  carry  up  the  corners; 
And  every  one's  a  good  enough  carpenter  and  mason 
To  do  a  little  work  at  Old  Tippecanoe's  raisin'. 

We'll  cut  out  a  window  and  have  a  wide  door  in; 

We'll  lay  a  good  loft  and  a  first-rate  floor  in; 

We'll  fix  it  all  complete  for  Old  Tip  to  see  his  friends  in; 

And  we  know  that  the  latch -string  will  never  have  its  ends  in. 

And  the  fourth  day  of  March  Old  Tip  will  move  in  it, 

And  then  little  Martin  will  have  to  shin  it; 

So  hurrah  boys  there's  no  two  ways  in 

The  fun  we'll  have  at  Old  Tippecanoe's  raisin'. 

A  song  to  the  tune  of  "  A  Fine  Old  English  Gentleman"  was  rather  a 
parlor  ditty  than  one  for  the  denser  atmosphere  of  the  popular  assemblies, 
but  was  heard  everywhere.  I  quote  a  verse : 

"And  when  he'd  served  his  country  in  Senate  and  on  field, 
The  honors  that  awaited  him  most  freely  did  he  yield; 
He  turned  him  to  his  home  again  and  sought  a  farmer's  to 
For  though  he'd.fill'd  the  offices  he  never  took  the  spoil, 
Like  a  fine  true  hearted  gentleman 
All  of  the  olden  time." 

There  was  one  very  spirited  song,  of  which  I  regret  to  have  only  the^ 
chorus,  that  forty-three  years  do  not  enable  me  to  forget.  I  seem  to  feel 
even  yet  the  pulsations  of  the  great  meetings,  as  the  Van,  Van,  Van,  would 
ring  out  like  strokes  on  a  smith's  anvil : 

"  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too, 
Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too ! 

And  with  them  we'll  beat  little  Van,  Van,  Van, 
And  with  them  we'll  beat  little  Van— 
Oh,  Van  is  a  used-up  man!" 

The  songs  were  not  elegant.  The  fastidious  might  even  say,  with  Benton, 
that  they  were  "  doggerel  ballads  made  for  the  occasion."  Not  a  great  deal 
of  argument,  or  wit,  or  humor  in  them,  but  they  had  one  grand  merit,  not 
always  found  in  literary  compositions,  they  were  exactly  suited  to  their 
purpose.  The  critic  who  demands  elegance  of  diction,  grandeur  of  thought, 
or  precision  of  rhyme  or  numbers,  will  turn  with  repugnance  from  the  songs 
of  1840;  but  let  him  reflect  that  they  were  not  written  up  to  the  level  of 
critical  perfection,  but  to  the  taste  and  capacity  of  those  who  were  to  sing 
and  enjoy  them.  The  plain  language,  homely  allusions  and  cant  flings  at 
our  adversaries  were  sweet  morsels  to  the  Whig  palate,  and  we  "  waxed  fat 
and  kicked  "  as  we  strained  our  throats  in  vocal  efforts  never  before  equaled. 

Peter  the  Hermit,  I  suppose,  had  not  much  more  elegance,  or  argument, 
or  sense  in  his  exhortations  than  we  had  in  our  songs ;  but  his  followers 
never  cared.  All  they  wanted  was  to  press  on  toward  Jerusalem,  even  if 
they  had  to  pillage  their  way.  All  we  wanted  was  to  carry  the  election. 
Peter  had  his  crusade  against  the  Saracens  to  possess  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 


126  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEAKS. 

We  had  our  cabinade  against  the  "office-holders"  to  possess  the  Govern 
ment. 

Apart  from  some  attempts  to  show  that  the  Democratic  policy  was  dis 
astrous  to  the  interests  of  labor,  and  through  that  to  all  other  interests,  there 
was  on  our  side  but  little  of  argument  used  in  the  campaign.  The  Demo 
crats  had  unwisely  assailed  Gen.  Harrison's  military  record,  and  to  these 
aspersions  we  could  reply  with  truth  and  triumph.  But  as  to  the  principles 
of  government  and  great  measures  of  administration  our  party  did  not  need 
much  argument,  nor  care  for  it.  As  a  rule  we  simply  assailed  Mr.  Van 
Buren  and  his  administration,  charging  all  sorts  of  misdemeanors  and  cor 
ruption.  An  elaborate  speech  in  Congress  by  Charles  Ogle,  of  Pennsylvania, 
on  the  cost  of  furnishing  the  President's  dwelling,  rang  out  like  the  tocsin  to 
a  Paris  mob ;  and  furious  was  our  wrath  that  the  poeple's  money  was  thus 
lavished  on  the  splendors  of  the  White  House !  The  President's  'gold  spoons,' 
described  by  the  eloquent  Congressman,  were  more  terrible  than  a  death's 
head  and  cross-bones  to  a  child  in  the  twilight,  and  Mr.  Ogle's  vaunt  that 
his  constituents,  the  people  of  the  Somerset  mountains,  were  "the  frosty 
sons  of  thunder,"  whatever  he  meant  by  that,  was  more  effective  in  gaming 
votes  than  a  ponderous  argument  from  Daniel  Webster. 

Log  cabins  were  every  where ;  in  parlor  pictures;  in  shop  windows; 
worked  in  jewelry  ;  hung  to  watch  chains  ;  displayed  on  harness,  and  worn 
pendant  from  ears  of  patriotic  dames  and  damsels.  Everywhere  save  in  the 
pulpit,  which  I  believe  escaped.  As  to  the  matter  of  "  hard  cider,"  no  sta 
tistics  were  kept  of  the  gallons  of  vinegar  consumed,  but  they  were  probably 
enough  to  have  pickled  the  cucumbers  from  a  million-acre  patch !  Wa 
reveled  in  "  hard  cider,"  and  I  think  its  antibilious  tendency  may  have 
sweetened  our  temper;  for  with  all  our  virtuous  indignation  against  the 
Democratic  "  spoilsmen,"  we  surely  had  the  most  jolly  time  ever  known  in 
a  season  of  party  contest. 

Great  was  our  victory.  The  multitude,  for  good  or  ill,  with  reason  or 
without,  decreed  a  change  of  rulers ;  and  Mr.  Van  Buren's  administration 
was  swept  away.  But  as  I  have  grown  older  I  have  not  rested,  as  I  once  did, 
in  the  wisdom  of  the  change;  and  as  I  have  looked  back  on  the  log  cabins, 
coon  skins  and  hard  cider,  the  songs,  the  flags,  the  torches,  and  the  wild 
hurrah,  irresistible  as  a  Kansas  tornado,  I  have  felt  a  growing  respect  for 
good  old  Peter  the  Hermit,  Walter  the  Penniless,  and  their  crusading  follow 
ers.  Only  Peter  and  Walter  did  not  reach  the  city  of  their  desires,  and  we, 
more  fortunate,  did  reach  that  of  ours.  They  never  got  to  Jerusalem,  but 
we  got  to  Washington. 

There  was  one  great  act,  or  rather  non-act  of  injustice— a  heinous  sin  of 
omission  on  the  part  of  the  whigs.  Never,  by  word  or  deed,  by  resolution 
or  contribution,  did  we  recognize  our  obligations  to  the  editor  of  the  Balti 
more  Republican,  whose  one  disparaging  sentence  directed  against  our  can 
didate  was,  unwittingly  on  that  editor's  part,  the  spark  that  set  us  all 
ablaze.  My  blush  of  shame  must  do  for  his  monument. 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  127 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

A  CHRISTIAN  GENTLEMAN  —  UNPOLISHED  ORATORY  —  BALTIMORE  CONVENTION 

—  AVALANCHE   OF   THE   PEOPLE  —  THOMAS   ALLEN  —  A  FORTUNATE  CHANCE 

—  THE   MADISONIAN  —  NOT   AN  ORATOR  — ASTOR,   GIRARD  AND  STEWART  — 
THEIR  CAREERS  CANNOT   BE  REPEATED  —  STEWART'S  HOME   FOR  WORKING 
WOMEN  —  THEY  DID  NOT   CONCENTRATE — A  CHANCE   FOR  GOULD  OR  VAN- 
DERBILT  —  A  VERY  POLITE   CITY — RURAL   MEETING  TO  BUILL  A  RAILROAD 

—  TWO   SUCCESSFUL    SPEECHES  —  OLD    MISSOURIANS  —  MR.    ALLEN  WANTED 
WORK  AND  DID   IT  —  A  LESSON  IN  ARCHITECTURE  —  HIS   MONUMENTS. 

For  years  I  kept  the  original  log  cabin  transparency,  the  first  used  in 
the  remarkable  political  contest  of  1840.  Its  suggestive  delineations,  if  not 
its  artistic  charms,  had  electrified  the  mass  meeting  and  inspired  Senator 
Fraley ;  and  I  might  have  kept  it  yet,  but  the  angel  of  the  house  having 
rummaged  it  out  of  the  closet,  wanted  to  burn  it  as  "rubbish,"  heedless  of 
all  historic  associations,  whereupon  I  utilized  it  as  an  oil-cloth  shade  to  the 
kitchen  loft  window.  It  is  gone  now,  and  I  have  no  material  relic  of  the 
unique  party  struggle ;  but  among  the  memories  of  that  season  of  songs  and 
speeches,  none  is  pleasanter  than  that  of  Frederic  Fraley,  of  Philadelphia, 
the  urbane,  enlightened,  sagacious,  Christian  gentleman,  whoso  every  act 
seemed  in  response  to  the  injunction  stretched  along  the  head  of  my  old 
Gazette  :  "Let  all  the  ends  thou  aimst  at  be  thy  Country's,  thy  God's,  and 
Truth's."  Wonderfully  restful  is  communion  with  such  men,  in  whom  you 
trust  intuitively,  and  no  more  think  of  their  deceiving  you  than  you  do  of 
cheating  yourself. 

The  contest  of  1840  soon  became  too  uproarious  for  gentlemen  of  Mr. 
Fraley's  refined  taste,  and  orators  of  a  different  class  held  the  rostrum. 
Among  these  practical  hard  hitters,  evoked  by  the  turmoil,  none  did  better 
work  than  "  the  Buckeye  Blacksmith,"  whose  name  I  would  hand  down  to 
future  ages  if  I  did  not  "disremember  "  it.  He  left  his  bellows  and  anvil 
in  Ohio  to  emit  stirring  blasts  and  strike  hard  blows  for  Harrison  and 
Tyler.  Illiterate  but  earnest,  he  moved  the  masses  at  his  will.  There  was 
a  large  measure  of  this  unpolished  but  effective  oratory,  from  men  unknown 
before,  whose  homely  phrases  and  quaint  illustrations  were  in  harmony 


128  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEAKS. 

with  the  occasions,  and  as  charming  to  their  hearers  as  ever  Bunyan's 
wonderful  narrative  was  to  his  pious  readers.  Dennis  Kearneys  they  were, 
but  without  his  coarseness  and  bitterness.  They  were  full  of  enthusiasm, 
and  enthusiasm  is  always  eloquent.  Their  like  will  probably  never  be 
heard  again.  But  all  our  speakers  were  not  of  this  order.  Some  men  of  the 
highest  culture  did  not  disdain  at  times  to  "go  down  to  the  people,"  as  a 
fine  old  Virginia  gentleman  would  have  phrased  it. 

A  young  men's  national  convention  met  at  Baltimore  in  May,  1840  ;  an 
immense  assemblage.  "The  avalanche  of  the  people  is  here,"  said  McMa- 
han,  a  Baltimore  evening  orator,  from  Reverdy  Johnson's  balcony  in  Monu 
ment  Square ;  and  we  were  so  full  of  patriotic  fervor  that  we  never  thought 
to  inquire  what  he  meant,  but  thought  it  a  stupendous  figure  of  speech. 
On  the  grounds  at  Camden,  next  day,  Daniel  Webster,  Preston  of  South 
Carolina,  Thomas  Allen,  then  of  Washington  City,  and  others  of  high  posi 
tion,  addressed  the  people.  But  in  a  few  weeks  we  needed  less  of  argument 
and  more  of  humor  and  of  straight  hits  from  the  shoulder  at  the  "office 
holders  "  than  orators  of  this  class  could  give  us. 

There  was  much  friendly  curiosity  at  this  Baltimore  gathering  to  see 
and  hear  Thomas  Allen,  then  editor  of  the  Madisonian,  which  had  been 
started  at  Washington  in  1837,  under  the  auspices  of  democrats  opposed  to 
Mr.  Van  Buren's  policy,  especially  in  regard  to  the  plan  of  an  Independent 
Treasury.  "  Conservatives  "  these  dissenting  democrats  called  themselves, 
and  they  wanted  an  editor.  Thomas  Allen's  father  had  given  him  an  ex 
cellent  education  and  an  opportunity  to  study  law,  and  then  said  to  him : 
"  Tom,  I'll  give  you  twenty  dollars,  and  you  can  go  and  make  your  for 
tune."  Thomas  left  the  old  Allen  home  at  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  and 
settled  in  New  York  city,  where  he  soon  became  known  by  some  magazine 
articles  and  contributions  to  the  daily  press.  By  one  of  those  chances  which 
are  fortunate  for  all,  and  which  furnish  a  ready-made  ladder  for  aspiring 
talent,  the  "  Conservatives  "  hit  upon  Thomas  Allen  to  edit  their  new  paper 
at  Washington.  Conducted  with  extraordinary  ability,  it  was  at  once 
recognized  as  the  leading  and  powerful  organ  of  democrats  opposed  to  Mr. 
Van  Buren's  re-election,  and  was  received  by  the  whigs  as  a  journal  of 
phenomenal  excellence.  In  two  years  Mr.  Allen  had  a  national  reputation. 
No  editor  ever  acquired  fame  and  influence  so  rapidly. 

But  Mr.  Allen  was  not  greatly  successful  as  an  orator  at  Baltimore.  I 
remember  well  the  then  youthful  and  modest  speaker.  In  faultless  diction 
he  gave  us  good  sense  and  sound  argument,  but  his  manner  lacked  warmth, 
and  however  choice  the  phrase  or  forcible  the  reasoning,  neither  voice  nor 
delivery  suited  that  tumultuous  crowd,  which  listened  with  chilled  respect 
even  to  Daniel  Webster,  but  responded  with  wild  enthusiasm  to  the  fervid 
declamation  of  William  C.  Preston.  No — Mr.  Allen  did  not  attract  the 
applause  as  a  speaker  which  we  all  knew  him  to  merit  as  an  editor,  and  it 
affords  me  a  kind  of  satisfaction  to  say  this  ; — for  why  should  one  man, 
even  as  able  as  Thomas  Allen,  have  all  the  gifts?  He  could  afford  to  leave 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  129 


oratory  to  Tom  Marshall,  or  Preston,  or  Henry  Clay.  His  allotted  work 
differed  from  theirs,  and  if  less  conspicuous  or  less  ornamental,  was  not 
less  useful  to  his  country  and  times. 

Mf.  Allen  retained  the  Madisonian  till  after  the  death  of  Gen.  Harrison 
had  brought  in  Mr.  Tyler  as  President.  He  was  not  to  remain  at  Washing 
ton.  It  was  his  destiny  to  do  the  great  work  of  his  life  west  of  the  great 
river,  and  after  more  than  forty  years  of  active  usefulness  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  he  died  with  the  harness  on  as  a  representative  in  Congress  from 
St.  Louis. 

In  taking  charge  of  the  Madisonian,  Thomas  Allen  "struck  while  the 
iron  was  hot,"  but  the  iron  was  there  to  be  struck,  all  the  same,  or  his 
talents  would  have  been  useless.  But  for  the  call  to  Washington  by  the 
factious  democrats,  he  might  have  remained  a  lawyer  in  New  York,  making 
money,  no  doubt,  for  his  eminent  abilities  would  have  commanded  success, 
but  doing  no  great  or  distinctive  work.  He  found  at  Washington  an  oppor 
tunity  never  before  or  since  presented  to  any  one  as  an  editor  there.  The 
people  were  in  the  mood  to  receive  his  paper  with  favor,  and  the  men  he 
was  acting  with  could  give  him  public  printing.  All  circumstances  con 
curred  to  assure  his  success.  His  talents,  culture,  and  broad  information 
had  a  propitious  field,  and  his  New  England  training  fitted  him  to  work  it 
for  all  it  was  worth.  No  one  ever  gained  reputation  and  money  so  rapidly 
as  an  editor  at  Washington,  and  no  one  ever  will.  Like  circumstances  will 
never  again  occur.  The  government  now  does  its  own  printing,  and  no 
journal  can  be  issued  at  Washington  to  command  the  attention  and  respect 
accorded  to  the  Madisonian.  If  Thomas  Allen  enjoyed  Fortune's  favors, 
he  proved  himself  worthy  of  them.  But  was  there  no  "luck"  in  it  all? 
Suppose  the  dissenting  democrats  had  not  dissented  ? 

Men  seem  to  "have  greatness  thrust  upon  them,"  as  I  believe  Shakes 
peare  says.  The  time  is  auspicious  for  a  certain  thing  to  be  done  ;  and  some 
one  gains  wealth  and  fame  by  doing  it.  John  Jacob  Astor  did  not  come  to 
America  with  any  design  to  enter  the  fur  trade.  Delay  of  a  ship  by  ice  in 
the  Delaware  brought  him  into  contact  with  a  countryman  who  suggested 
furs  and  peltries.  At  first  John  Jacob  did  not  see  all  the  advantages,  but 
soon  his  acute  vision  took  in  the  possibilities  of  the  trade,  and  with  rare 
courage  and  sagacity  he  turned  them  to  account;  not  only  sending  his 
cargoes  abroad,  but  converting  their  proceeds  into  return  cargoes  of  teas 
and  other  merchandise  for  the  home  market,  and  thus  often  more  than 
doubling  his  ventures.  His  capital  rapidly  grew  beyond  the  needs  of  his 
trade,  but  the  low  prices  of  real  estate  in  New  York  invited  the  investment 
of  his  profits.  He  became  a  millionaire,  aiid  hardly  missed  the  great  losses 
which  he«uffered  in  his  venture  at  Astoria,  mainly  because  of  the  neglect 
and  pusillanimity  of  the  federal  government.  An  able  man  John  Jacob 
was,  unquestionably,  a  statesman  in  some  of  his  views  as  well  as  a  shrewd 
trader  in  furs  and  peltries,  but  the  iron  was  heated  to  his  hand.  He  had 
only  to  strike.  But  never  since  he  entered  it  has  the  fur  trade  presented 


130  NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

such  chances  for  fortunes  as  then.  Let  any  young  German  born  at  Wahl- 
dorf  on  the  Rhine  try  it  now,  and  see  how  he  will  coine  out. 

Or  let  the  most  industrious,  energetic,  penurious,  persevering  and 
miserly  Philadelphian,  native  or  adopted,  undertake  to  act  over  Stephen 
Girard's  career,  and  he  will  fail,  even  with  two  good  eyes,  and  Stephen  had 
only  one.  Careers  suit  occasions,  and  cannot  be  duplicated  at  will ;  but  the 
career  of  the  first  Philadelphia  millionaire  is  of  value  in  teaching  that  in 
dustry,  economy  and  patience  are  worthy  of  observance,  even  if  all  the 
posthumous  glory  of  a  big  marble  college  for  orphans  cannot  offset  the 
shame  of  unkindness  to  one's  kith  and  kin,  although  the  offender  partially 
atoned  for  his  laches  by  voluntary  devotion  to  the  destitute  and  deserted 
sick  during  pestilence.  Enigmatical  Stephen— repudiated  his  poor  rela 
tions,  and  risked  his  life  for  strangers  in  the  agonies  and  despair  of  yellow 
fever ! 

Alex.  T.  Stewart  ordained  the  building  of  a  city  and  cathedral  on  Long 
Island,  as  his  monument  possibly.  But  if  his  errant  corpse  could  have  been 
laid  beneath  the  sod,  I  doubt  if  a  single  honest  tear,  save  from  his  widow, 
lonely  and  childless  in  her  palace,  would  have  bedewed  the  grass  on  it.  He 
was  born  with  a  soul  "not  above  buttons,"  and  educated  himself  in  buttons 
and  the  raiment  they  belong  to  just  at  the  right  time  to  begin  his  career. 
With  a  few  wise  maxims  to  govern  his  conduct  (known  to  many  but  prac 
ticed  by  few),  he  persevered,  because  perseverance  was  constant  profit; 
prudently  enlarged  his  operations  as  he  gained  strength ;  skilfully  com 
bined  all  elements  of  power  as  a  dealer  in  dry-goods,  and  made  himself  a 
millionaire,  gaining  a  fortune  never  perhaps  equaled  in  any  other  one  man's 
trade.  The  condition  of  the  country  and  its  commerce  enabled  him  to  do  all 
this.  As  Mr.  Lincoln  might  have  said,  the  hole  was  open,  and  Alex.  T. 
was  the  peg  made  to  fit  it.  But  let  any  young  Irishman  now,  however 
keen  or  persevering,  try  to  duplicate  his  career,  and  what  will  he  amount 
to?  "With  ten  times  Stewart's  ability  the  copyist  could  not  have  one-tenth 
his  success.  Kuch  careers,  like  that  of  Washington,  cannot  be  repeated. 

With  all  his  aptness  in  gaining  wealth,  Alex.  T.  Stewart  was  denied  the 
privilege  of  doing  good.  Even  his  great  building  for  a  working  woman's 
home  was  a  costly  failure.  The  working  women  could  not  afford  to  live  in 
it.  With  only  nominal  charges  it  could  be  of  use  to  but  few,  as  but  few 
would  have  their  work  near  enough  to  be  able  to  make  it  their  home.  He 
dealt  with  working  women's  interests  as  he  did  with  his  bales  and  boxes. 
He  had  combined  large  operations  in  merchandise  and  concentrated  goods 
of  almost  infinite  variety  in  one  large  establishment ;  and  he  thought  the 
poor  working  women  could  be  combined  in  his  one  big  edifice,  and  have 
there  a  home.  But  they  did  not  combine  and  concentrate  worth  |i  cent.  If 
he  had  spent  the  money  in  a  number  of  lesser  buildings,  placed  in  scattered 
localities,  so  as  to  be  near  where  the  working  women  are  at  work,  he  would 
have  been  a  benefactor ;  and  such  buildings,  named  Stewart  Home  Num 
ber  1,  Number  2,  and  so  on,  would  have  been  each  a  monument  better  than 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN   SIXTY    ^EARS.  131 

a  statue  in  Westminster  Abbey.  I  never  had  a  statue  in  tne  Abbey  ;  but 
to  perpetuate  nay  name,  would  prefer  a  Working  Woman's  Home  such  as  I 
have  suggested  before  all  the  statues  ever  made ;  and  if  Mr.  Stewart  had 
established  them,  the  grateful  women,  if  need  had  arisen,  would  have  vol 
untarily  kept  guard  over  his  uneasy  bones. 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  a  New  York  magazine  has  had  an  arti 
cle  taking  much  the  same  view  as  I  have  presented  of  Mr.  Stewart's  big 
failure  in  benevolence.  It  appeared  a  few  weeks  after  I  had  put  in  ink  my 
thoughts  on  the  subject.  This  might  be  a  case  of  Odic  Influence,  but  I 
think  not,  as  I  had  the  same  opinion  of  Mr.  Stewart's  big  project  when  it 
was  first  announced,  and  I  do  not  think  that  my  thoughts  have  ever  been 
intense  enough  to  reach  all  the  way  to  New  York,  and  have  the  necessary 
force  left  to  get  into  a  magazine  editor's  head,  especially  as  the  good  Dr. 
Holland  had  departed  this  life.  Pity  it  is,  that  some  editor  did  not  suggest 
to  Mr.  Stewart  at  the  time  he  began  his  one  big  edifice  to  put  the  money 
in  a  number  of  smaller  ones,  as  the  man,  though  rich  in  cash  and  proper 
ties,  wasTeally  poor  in  the  knowledge  of  how  to  do  good,  and  to  have  his 
name  remembered  gratefully.  The  chance  is  open  now  for  Mr.  Gould  or 
Mr.  Vanderbilt. 

All  I  have  said  about  Astor,  Girard  and  Stewart  is  of  value,  because  the 
careers  of  these  men,  and  that  of  Thomas  Allen,  illustrate  the  fact  that 
circumstances  devolpe  men  by  affording  scope  for  the  exercise  of  their  pow 
ers.  Opportunity  is  fortune.  The  gifted  see  it,  seize  it,  and  succeed.  But 
man  does  not  make  opportunities,  and  we  do  not  all  know  how  to  profit  by 
them. 

When  I  was  in  Washington  City  in  the  spring  of  1841,  after  the  inaugu 
ration  crowd  had  partly  scattered,  I  thought  it  the  politest  place  on  earth. 
We  were  rather  a  plain  people  in  Pennsylvania  ;  civil,  kindly,  and  polite  in 
our  modest  way,  but  by  110  means  noted  for  unusual  elegance  of  manner  or 
extraordinary  courtesy  to  strangers,  that  we  did  not  know  something  about. 
Imagine  my  wonderment,  then,  when  I  found  myself  treated  with  the  most 
surprising  courtesy  on  the  streets  of  Washington.  Ladies  would  smile,  and 
with  a  charming  inclination  of  each  pretty  head,  greet  me  as  we  passed  on 
the  avenue,  and  even  give  me  a  gentle  salute  from  carriage  windows  as  they 
whirled  along.  Gentlemen  would  raise  their  hats  and  bow,  even  across  the 
street  if  not  too  wide.  Of  course  I  was  on  my  mettle,  and  as  George  Wash 
ington  was  particular  that  not  even  an  American  of  African  descent  should 
excel  him  in  politeness,  so  I  scrupulously  returned  all  these  polite  saluta 
tions,  bowed,  and  lifted  my  best  hat  till  the  fur  began  to  wear  off  the  brim. 
I  was  totally  unconscious  of  any  reason  why  so  much  attention  should  be 
lavished  on  a  modest  stranger,  and  felt  like  writing  an  essay  on  the  charm 
ing  manners  of  the  Capital,  and  their  high  moral  and  refining  tendencies, 
when  I  chanced  to  meet  a  gentleman  on  the  avenue  whom  I  knew  by  sight 
to  be  Col.  Abert,  Chief  of  Topographical  Engineers,  and.  shaking  my  hand 
cordially  he  said : 


132  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

"  Allow  me  to  tell  you  how  much  I  enjoyed  the  leading  editorial  in  your 
paper  to-day.  You  treated  the  subject  very  ably,  very  ably  indeed.  Your 
views  of  the  finance  question  seem  to  me  very  sound." 

I  thanked  him  heartily,  and  we  separated.  But  what  could  it  all  mean? 
I  had  a  paper,  but  it  was  at  Harrisburg,  and  could  not  have  been  read  in 
Washington  that  morning.  After  a  few  minutes'  thought  all  was  clear. 
The  word  finance  was  the  clew.  The  Madisonian  had  an  article  on  that 
subject,  and  Col.  Abert  had  supposed  he  was  speaking  to  Thomas  Allen! 
All  the  rest  who  had  been  so  polite  to  a  stranger  had  made  the  same 
mistake. 

I  was  not  personally  acquainted  with  Mr.  Allen  then,  nor  can  I  recollect 
when  we  were  first  known  to  each  other  ;  but  I  remember  a  meeting  in 
1850  when  we  both  made  speeches.  Coming  in  the  saddle  from  the  Stanton 
Copper  Mine  in  Franklin  county,  seventy  miles  west  of  St.  Louis,  intending 
to  reach  Manchester  and  lodge  at  Col.  Berry's  inn,  where  the  table  was 
always  so  bountiful  and  the  old-fashioned  cooking  so  good,  I  found  at 
North's  store  (Gray's  Summit  now)  a  gathering  of  farmers  who  had  met  to 
consider  the  railroad  question.  Thomas  Allen  was  there,  to  explain  what 
was  meant  by  the  act  he  had  induced  the  Legislature  to  pass  a  year  before 
incorporating  the  Pacific  Railroad.  Our  meeting  under  Mr.  North's  locust 
trees  ought  to  have  been  Daguerreotyped  for  the  Historical  Society,  or 
painted  by  Bingham,  as  one  of  the  very  first  popular  assemblies  to  take 
practical  steps  towards  the  actual  building  of  a  railway,  ultimately  to  reach 
the  Pacific  ocean.  We  were  initiating  the  work  of  railroad  building  west  of 
the  Mississippi ;  and  I  am  sure  no  plain  and  modest  orators  ever  had  a  more 
attentive  audience.  Of  Mr.  Allen's  speech  I  only  recollect  his  demonstra 
tion  to  the  auditors  that  after  the  railroad  from  St.  Louis  should  be  built, 
they  could  not  afford  to  ride  or  drive  to  the  city  even  with  their  own 
horses  or  teams,  and  in  fact  could  not  afford  to  walk.  The  use  of  a  horse  or 
a  team  would  be  worth  more  than  the  railroad  fare;  nor  could  a  man,  if  his 
wages  were  only  seventy-five  cents  a  day,  afford  the  time,  food  and  shoe- 
leather  consumed  in  walking.  No  orator  ever  presented  a  newer  argument 
than  this  was  to  Mr.  Allen's  hearers,  although  Stepenson  had  used  it  some 
thirty  years  before.  My  own  discourse  was  mainly  on  the  necessity  of 
associated  strength  to  accomplish  any  great  result,  the  argument  illus 
trated  by  the  fact  that  even  a  steamboat  was  mostly  too  big  a  thing  for  one 
man,  and  had  several  combined  in  the  ownership  ;  and  as  a  railroad  was  a 
much  bigger  thing  than  a  steamboat  it  must  necessarily  depend  011  asso 
ciated  "  effort,  and  hence  everybody  ought  to  help.  Never  were  speeches 
better  received,  or  better  suited  to  the  occasion.  Our  arguments  were  ele 
mentary  but  convincing,  and  every  man  left  the  meeting  satisfied  that  he 
was  bound  to  ride  to  St.  Louis  on  that  railroad  when  completed,  and  that 
every  one  of  his  neighbors  ought  to  take  stock  and  help  to  build  it. 

Mr.  Allen  and  I  spent  the  night  at  the  farm  house  of  Williamson  Rogers, 
forty  miles  from  St.  Louis  on  the  old  Springfield  road,  where  travelers  had 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  133 

"  enter tainment,"  and  not  only  enjoyed  excellent  food  for  the  body,  but 
had  the  mind  refreshed  by  the  domestic  graces  of  a  well  ordered  family.  In 
the  olden  days  of  Missouri  there  were  many  families  like  that  of  Mr.  Rogers, 
of  Rev.  Jacob  Clark  at  Sullivan,  and  the  Harrisons  on  the  Gasconade,  in 
which  intelligence  and  refinement  were  as  pleasant  as  they  were  apt  to  be 
unexpected  to  a  city  man  in  those  remote  localities ;  and  no  doubt  there  are 
many  worthy  successors  in  those  parts  yet.  I  was  much  entertained  during 
the  evening  with  Mr.  Allen's  account  of  his  early  life,  his  persistent  labor, 
and  his  resolve  to  surmount  all  obstacles.  There  was  110  egotism  in  it  all, 
as  we  talked  of  our  emergence  into  manhood's  world  as  if  discussing  the 
struggles,  trials  and  hopes  of  third  persons.  Seventeen  years  later,  in  1867, 
finding  ourselves  at  Altoona  on  the  same  train  for  St.  Louis,  he  told  me  of 
his  purchase  of  the  Iron  Mountain  Railroad,  then  only  eighty  miles  long, 
and  of  his  intention  to  extend  it  southwestward  to  Little  Rock  and  beyond. 
He  had  means,  he  said,  to  live  a  life  of  leisure,  and  had  tried  to  do  so; 
"  but  I  can't  stand  it,"  he  continued,  "I  must  have  occupation  for  all  my 
energies,  and  I  shall  find  it  in  extending  the  railroad.''  He  had  work 
enough  in  this  enterprise,  but  the  rails  reached  Texarkana,  and  now  con 
nect  St.  Louis  with  Mexico  in  one  direction  and  with  California  in  another. 

If  Thomas  Allen,  had  done  no  more  than  give  to  St.  Louis  the  first  fire 
proof  hotel  in  the  world,  the  bust  placed  there  as  a  memento  by  admiring 
and  lamenting  friends  might  well  grace  its  hall.  The  grand  edifice  whose 
absolute  security  against  destruction  by  fire  enables  its  guests  to  sleep  in 
greater  safety  than  in  their  own  homes,  may  seem  unimportant  in  compari 
son  with  the  extension  of  the  railroad  system  west  of  the  great  river,  due  so 
largely  to  his  pioneer  and  persistent  efforts.  Yet  the  Southern  Hotel  is  not 
to  be  estimated  simply  as  a  secure  and  sumptuous  resting  place  for  the 
sojoumer,  but  as  a  pattern  in  hotel  construction  which  the  traveling  part  of 
the  community  will  in  time  require  to  be  followed  in  all  large  buildings  for 
like  uses.  It  is  a  permanent  lesson  in  common  sense  architecture  taught  in 
St.  Louis  for  the  first  time  in  the  world. 

The  achievements  of  Thomas  Allen  cannot  be  taken  out  of  the  history  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley  without  tearing  from  the  record  some  of  its  most 
illustrious  pages.  Inscriptions  on  his  tomb  at  the  historic  family  home  in 
Pittsfield  may  fade,  and  even  his  native  place  may  forget  him,  but  the 
benefits  to  the  continent  of  his  forty  years  of  labor  in  the  Mississippi  Val 
ley  will  cease  only  with  our  civilization.  His  monuments  are  in  our  iron 
highways,  and  in  the  intellectual  progress  due  to  the  influence  of  a  far- 
reaching  and  comprehensive  mind,  master  at  once  of  the  minutest  details, 
and  capable  of  the  largest  combinations. 


134'  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

CONSISTENT  PATRIOTS  —  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM  —  INAUGURATION  DAY — AVA 
LANCHE  AGAIN  —  PURE  AS  SNOW — HARRISON'S  INAUGURAL  —  SAGES  AND 
CONSULS  SLAUGHTERED  —  PATRIOTS  ALARMED  —  PRESIDENT'S  HAND  SAVED 
—  DINNER  AT  THE  WHITE  HOUSE  —  THE  PRESIDENT'S  CHARMING  CONVER 
SATION—A  WAY  HE  HAD  — LEGION  AGAINST  ONE  — HE  PASSES  AWAY  — 
THE  FOUNTAIN  OF  PATRONAGE. 

Having  elected  Gen.  Wm.  Henry  Harrison  President  of  the  United 
States,  the  whigs  and  those  who  acted  with  us — true  patriots  all — behaved 
with  exemplary  consistency.  We  had  clamored  against  Mr.  Van  Buren's 
office-holders ;  had  denounced  them  as  unfit  and  dishonest.  In  tones  of 
alarmed  and  indignant  patriotism,  both  in  speech  and  song,  we  had  re 
hearsed  their  enormities.  By  their  iniquities  the  '  spoilsmen  '  had  brought 
disaster  and  ruin  to  the  country.  From  all  platforms  we  had  declared  that 
they  must  be  turned  out,  and  we  were  consistent  in  holding  to  this  declara 
tion. 

We  understood  civil-service  reform.  Never  complicating  it  with  exam 
ining  boards,  or  puerile  questions  to  applicants  on  pretence  of  ascertaining 
their  fitness,  we  had  none  of  the  nonsense  grown  up  since.  Our  equitable 
and  infallible  rule  was  to  turn  out  the  old  incumbents.  No  other  measure 
so  potent  to  reform  the  civil  service. 

"  The  good  old  rule,  the  simple  plan 

Sufficed  for  as:  that  they  should  take  who  have  the  power, 
And  they  should  keep  who  can." 

There  would  necessarily  be  vacancies  ;  but  we  relied  confidently  on  the 
devotion  of  our  party.  The  country  should  not  suffer ;  the  High  Bird  of 
Liberty  should  not  lose  a  feather.  Nay,  so  ardent  our  patriotism,  that 
there  were  actually  more  men  willing  to  serve  than  offices  to  fill.  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  perplexed,  he  said,  when  he  "  had  more  pegs  than  holes  to  put 
them  in  ;"  but  we  had  gone  through  all  that  twenty  years  before. 

Inauguration  day  came,  March  4,  1841.  Never  had  Washington  City 
held  so  much  patriotism,  in  so  many  packages — all  animate — and  as  ready 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY   YEARS.  135 

for  sacrifice  as  little  Isaac  on  the  altar,  or  more  so.  McMahon,  the  tall  Bal 
timore  lawyer,  who  had  in  his  speech  at  the  great  convention  said  "  the 
avalanche  of  the  people  is  here,"  might  have  repeated  it  and  have  added — 
pure,  too,  in  all  motives  as  the  mountain  snow,  perhaps.  Pennsylvania 
avenue— then,  if  I  am  right  in  recollection,  the  only  paved  street,  for  Aleck 
Shepherd  was  not  yet  boss — seemed  well  named,  as  we  noted  with  pride 
the  swarms  from  the  good  old  Commonwealth.  All  other  states,  too,  and 
even  territories,  had  their  faithful  men.  No  tattered  crowd  of  unabluted 
pilgrims  ever  infested  Mecca  more  intent  to  kiss  the  black  stone  of  the 
Kaaba  and  be  saved,  than  our  patriots  were  to  shake  the  President's  hand 
and  serve  the  country.  New  as  the  scenes  were  to  the  arrazed  Washing- 
tonians  they  were  newer  still  to  us,  as  our  first  opportunity  with  our  own 
President ;  and  never  Joshua's  army  enjoyed  a  raid  on  the  heathen  as  we 
enjoyed  the  raid  on  the  high  and  low  places  of  the  capital.  The  history  in 
detail  of  those  days  has  never  been  written ;  but  you  need  not  tell  me  of 
modern  patriotism  as  compared  with  ours,  or  of  your  trumpery  civil-service 
reform  these  latter  days. 

Our  President  was  solemnly  sworn  in.  His  inaugural  address  was  all 
right,  as  it  fell  on  greedy  ears  and  soon  fluttered  in  print.  Its  private  his 
tory  became  known  later.  Our  dear  "Old  Tip" — as  we  still  without  in 
tended  disrespect  fondly  styled  him — had  been  all  his  life  a  close  student  of 
ancient  history,  and  was  apt,  pen  in  hand,  to  draw  freely  for  illustration  on 
Greece  and  Rome.  The  sages  and  heroes  of  antiquity  were  his  models  and* 
familiars.  They  had  enlivened  his  retired  life  at  North  Bend,  and  he  could 
not  easily  part  with  old  friends.  As  first  prepared,  his  inaugural  was 
stuffed  as  full  of  antique  characters  as  the  property  room  of  a  theatre  of  old 
helmets,  shields  and  battle  axes.  But  this  did  not  suit  the  taste  of  Daniel 
Webster,  who  was  to  be  Secretary  of  State,  and  who  liked  the  rhetoric  of 
state  papers  to  be  as  limpid  and  clear  as  the  streams  wherein  he  fished  for 
trout.  Dan'l  insisted  on  revising  the  address,  and,  as  he  afterwards  honestly 
confessed,  slaughtered  sages  enough  to  make  a  senate,  and  in  cold  blood 
murdering  all  the  Roman  consuls  but  one.  "  It  was  the  remark  of  a  Roman 
consul,"  said  the  inaugural  address,  and  we  firmly  believed  it ;  but  Dan'l 
had  cut  out  all  other  classics.  I  never  forgave  him.  I  always  wanted  a 
condensed  edition  of  Plutarch  with  those  other  seniors,  and  Old  Tip's  inau 
gural  would  have  been  just  the  thing  if  Dan'l  had  let  it  alone. 

Few  better  men  than  Gen.  Harrison  ever  lived.  He  had  no  thought  but 
for  his  country  and  his  kind.  There  have  been  other  presidents  as  honest, 
possibly,  as  kind-hearted  and  as  true  to  their  country,  but  they  were  not 
more  than  his  peers.  Not  for  lack  of  talent,  acquirements  or  judgment,  but 
because  of  his  age  and  his  good  nature,  he  was  sadly  out  of  place  as  Presi 
dent.  His  genuine  kindness  of  heart  bade  him  listen  to  all  comers  if  possi 
ble,  and  he  wished  to  satisfy  everybody.  He  could  hardly  get  time  to  eat 
or  sleep.  The  routine  duties  world  have  taxed  him  enough,  but  these  were 
insignificant  in  comparison  with  the  labors  thrown  on  him  by  the  patriots. 


136  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

Exercise  in  youth  and  earlier  manhood  develops  and  strengthens  the 
muscles,  but  after  three  score  the  excessive  use  of  any  one  of  the  limbs  of 
tlie  human  body  may  be  paralyzing  in  its  effects,  or  at  least  impair  the 
vigor  of  the  limb,  in  a  manner  to  render  it  unfit  for  its  customary  uses.  The 
hand-shaking  which  the  President  had  been  submitting  to — and  really 
delighting  in,  good  old  gentleman  that  he  was — began  to  have  its  natural 
effect.  Hand  and  arm  would  evidently  soon  fail ;  but  fortunately,  while  the 
new  cabinet  had  under  grave  consideration  the  propriety  of  advising  the 
President  officially  to  withhold  his  hand  from  the  cordial  shakers  lest  its 
use  should  be  entirely  lost,  the  peril  was  happily  averted.  The  impending 
danger  of  a  manual  paralysis  got  noised  abroad  among  the  patriots,  and 
created  much  alarm,  lest  the  President,  by  losing  the  use  of  his  right  limb, 
might  be  unable  to  set  his  signature  to  the  expected  appointments.  A 
meeting  of  patriots  was  at  once  held,  or  the  matter  was  whispered  round — I 
don't  remember  clearly  which — and  by  general  consent  it  was  decided  to 
stop  tugging  at  the  President's  hand,  and  save  it  to  sign  the  commissions. 

The  only  two  visitors  at  Washington  who  did  not  want  office  were  Mr. 
Joseph  Milliken  of  Pennsylvania  and  myself ;  or,  at  least  I  have  no  recol 
lection  of  any  others.  Mr.  Milliken  had  a  favorite  for  the  Lewistown  post- 
office  ;  not  that  the  office  had  been  badly  managed,  but  entirely  for  the  sake 
of  civil-service  reform.  I  wanted  Mr.  Andrew  J.  Jones,  a  true  patriot,  and 
liberal  giver  to  party  funds,  appointed  postmaster  at  Harrisburg;  not  that 
the  office  was  not  well  conducted,  or  that  Mr.  James  Peacock,  the  incum 
bent,  was  not  a  very  respectable  gentleman,  and  in  all  respects  trust 
worthy  ;  but  solely  for  the  sake  of  consistency,  as  we  had  told  the  people 
that  true  reform  could  only  be  effected  by  turning  out  all  '  locofocos."  Al 
though  Mr.  Milliken  and  myself  did  not  care  to  serve  the  public  ourselves, 
we  were  yet  very  anxious  to  have  the  men  of  our  choice  appointed,  and 
were  in  excellent  spirits  when  fortunate  enough  to  reach  the  President's 
room  to  present  our  papers. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  the  old  hero,  "I  must  beg  you  to  excuse  me  this 
morning.  I  cannot  possibly  take  time  to  talk  with  you  now,"  waving  his 
hand  over  the  piles  of  papers  on  his  table,  "  but  do  me  the  favor  to  come 
and  dine  with  me  at  4  o'clock." 

Nothing  could  be  kinder  than  his  manner,  and  as  we  bowed  ourselves 
out,  our  pride  in  this  unexpected  invitation  was  only  equalled  by  our  solici 
tude  as  to  the  etiquette  of  the  dinner.  How  were  we  to  behave?  How 
would  plain  men  like  us  get  through  the  unaccustomed  ceremonies  of  the 
White  House?  We  had  neither  of  us  been  in  the  habit  of  dining  with  pres 
idents,  and  proper  behavior  was  a  serious  matter.  We  could  only  decide 
to  go  slow,  watch  the  turns  of  events  and  do  as  we  should  see  others  do.  It 
was  a  great  honor  to  dine  with  the  President,  and  a  great  thing  to  have  so 
excellent  an  opportunity  to  talk  over  the  appointments.  We  would  encoun 
ter  the  hazard  of  blunders  in  etiquette  for  the  chance  of  quietly  arranging 
post-office  matters.  He  had  said  that  he  could  not  talk  with  us  when  we 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  TEARS.  137 

called,  but  we  must  dine  with  him,  and  this  could  only  mean  that  every 
thing  should  be  arranged  nicely  at  dinner. 

"It  was  a  great  surprise,"  I  remarked,  "but  it's  a  great  honor,  too,  and 
I  guess  we'll  fix  things." 

"  Yes,  to  be  sure,  to  be  sure,"  replied  my  friend ;  "  but  we  must  be  care 
ful,  you  know." 

"Of  course  it  wont  do  to  make  any  blunders.  We  must  not  be  in  too 
much  of  a  hurry." 

"No ;  and  besides,  we  must  be  sure  to  let  him  bring  up  our  matters  him 
self.  That's  the  rule,  they  say.  We  must  let  him  lead  the  conversation." 

Having  thus  arranged  that  we  would  do  no  discredit  to  the  good  breed 
ing  of  Pennsylvania  by  any  unbecoming  behavior  on  this  important  occa 
sion,  we  presented  ourselves  in  due  season  and  had  our  dinner.  It  was  a 
very  good  dinner,  and  to  our  surprise  and  gratification  there  was  but  little 
formality,  and  more  cheerfulness  than  we  had  expected.  There  were  only 
half  a  dozen  other  guests,  and  the  President  led  the  conversation  in  a  man 
ner  so  genial  and  pleasant  that  everybody  was  charmed.  But  not  a  word 
about  offices  or  appointments ! 

Leaving  the  table  the  President  led  the  way  to  the  south  front  of  the 
mansion  for  a  stroll  in  the  grounds.  It  was  one  of  Washington's  balmy 
spring  days,  and  after  a  few  turns  on  the  walks  we  came  to  a  halt,  and 
standing  in  a  half  circle  were  entertained  with  anecdote  and  reminiscence 
of  his  varied  and  eventful  life  by  the  nation's  honored  head.  It  was  all 
very  delightful,  as  with  the  utmost  grace  and  polish  of  manner  he  seemed 
to  be  addressing  each  of  us,  and  was  certainly  giving  pleasure  and  instruc 
tion  to  all.  But  not  a  word  about  politics  or  civil-service  reform ! 

In  due  time  Mr.  Milliken  and  I  took  leave  and  walked  down  the  avenue. 

"Well,  what  do  you  think  of  it,  my  boy?"  he  asked  as  we  passed  the  old 
state  department. 

"  I  think  we  have  had  the  honor  of  dining  with  the  President,  and  that 
I  am  a  little  ahead  of  you,  Mr.  Milliken." 

"  How  so?    He  didn't  say  a  word  about  the  Harrisburg  post-office." 

"  No ;  but  I  have  dined  with  two  presidents,  and  you  with  only  one." 

"  What  do  you  mean?  When  did  you  ever  dine  at  the  White  House 
before?" 

"  Never ;  but  I  dined  to-day  with  the  President  of  the  United  States  and 
the  President  of  the  Lewistown  Bank." 

And  so  ended  our  dinner  at  the  White  House.  Neither  of  us  ever  saw 
the  good  President  again.  I  do  not  recollect  what  was  done  with  the  Lew 
istown  post-office,  but  I  know  that  Mr.  Jones  had  to  continue  selling  dry 
goods,  and  some  one  else  had  the  office  at  Harrisburg. 

Five  years  ago  I  met  at  Washington  Mr.  James  E.  Harvey,  who  had 
been  at  our  Baltimore  convention  and  was  one  of  the  "  young  men,"  reuni 
ted  at  Washington  in  1841  at  the  inauguration,  on  which  occasion  he  made 
a  speech  with  the  '  palmetto  tree  'in  it  and  a  great  deal  about  South  Caro- 


138  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEAKS. 

lina ;  and  Collins  Lee  of  Baltimore  charmed  us  with  a  glowing  eulogy  on 
ourselves  as  representative  young  Americans,  with  Fort  McHenry,  Francis 
S.  Key  and  the  '  Star  Spangled  Banner  >  all  thrown  in  with  thrilling  effect. 
But  I  verily  believe  that  of  all  that  assembly  of  ardent  young  patriots  I 
was  the  only  one  so  derelict  as  not  to  desire  an  official  position  to  serve  the 
country.  Mr  Harvey  and  I  renewed  our  acquaintance  after  the  long  inter 
val,  during  which  he  had  been  for  a  long  time  minister  to  Portugal,  or 
somewhere  else,  and,  as  we  drifted  into  reminiscences,  I  told  him  of  the 
dinner  at  the  White  House. 

"I  understand  it  all,"  said  Mr.  Harvey.  "  It  was  a  way  he  had.  If  not 
convenient  at  once  to  attend  to  a  gentleman  he  was  sure  to  invite  him  to 
dinner  or  breakfast,  and  sometimes  he  had  so  many  guests  that  there  was 
hardly  tableware  enough  to  go  round." 

Thus  the  roses  fade.  For  thirty-seven  years  I  had  nursed  the  pleasant 
and  prideful  memory,  come  weal  or  come  woe,  that  Mr.  Joseph  Milliken 
and  myself  had  enjoyed  the  honor  of  a  special  invitation  to  dine  with  the 
President  of  the  United  States  ;  but,  after  all,  as  Mr.  Harvey  explained  the 
old  hero's  habit,  it  was  only  '  a  way  he  had.'  I  have  never  dined  with  a 
President  since,  and  never  will. 

Gen.  Harrison  had  enjoyed  good  health  and  was  a  brave  man.  With  his 
wonted  courage  he  faced  the  assailant  office-seekers.  They  took  chances  at 
him  as  skirmishers  if  he  attempted  a  walk,  fronted  him  in  line  if  he  looked 
from  a  window,  and  charged  on  him  in  column  to  his  inner  chambers.  It 
was  fearful  odds.  They  were  legion  and  he  but  one.  His  attitude  seemed 
to  say,  as  did  Fitz  James  to  Roderick  Dim : 

"Come  one,  come  all!  this  rock  shall  fly 
From  its  firm  base  as  soon  as  I !" 

But  they  were  too  many  for  him.  Work  and  worry,  with  a  severe  cold, 
prostrated  him,  and  the  worn  frame  could  not  rally.  He  had  fought  Indi 
ans  and  survived,  but  the  savage  onslaught  of  hungry  patriots  was  fatal, 
and  he  was  President  only  a  month.  He  passed  away  on  the  4th  of  April, 
sincerely  lamented.  We  had  much  true  and  unselfih  love  for  the  good  old 
man.  There  was  great  attraction  in  his  frank,  honest,  kindly  character. 

Besides,  he  was  the  fountain  of  patronage,  and  our  faithful  patriots  had 
each  selected  a  spot  to  dip  his  ladle  into  one  of  the  streams.  Now  all  was 
changed.  John  Tyler  was  the  fountain,  and  nobody  could  tell  where  the 
streams  would  run,  or  what  chance  he  would  have  for  a  dip. 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  139 


CHAPTEE   XXI. 

PROSPEROUS  AND  HAPPY  —  DAUPHIN  GUARDS  —  COLLATIONS  VS.  BANQUETS  — 
ILLINOY — RATON  MOUNTAIN  COAL  JOURNALED  —  ITS  USE  VATICINATED  — 
A.,  T.  &  S.  F.  R.  R. — ONLY  ONE  ARTIST — POET,  PAINTER  AND  MAN  OF 
GENIUS  —  A  WELL-MANAGED  PORTRAIT  —  ADVICE  TO  MY  LOVELY  LASS  — 
SOMETHING  ABOUT  HERDS  —  TULIP  MANIA — GOOD  LAW  IN  GRAIN  AND  PORK 
WAGERS  — LAW'S  MISSISSIPPI  SCHEME  — SOUTH  SEA  BUBBLE  — OUR  MORUS 
MULTICAULIS  MANIA  —  SILK  NATIONAL  CONVENTION  —  HOLLANDERS  AHEAD 
IN  ILLUSTRIOUS  ABSURDITY — ENGLISH  BUBBLES. 

Gen.  Jackson  said  in  his  Farewell  Address,  on  retirement  from  the  Presi 
dency—  "  I  leave  this  great  people  prosperous  and  happy."  Such  was  my 
own  condition  from  1838  till  the  summer  of  1841.  McCurdy  and  I  had  en 
joyed  an  occasional  chance  at  the  State  Treasury,  in  the  way  of  public 
printing,  and  the  prospect  of  wealth  seemed  to  shed  on  our  pathway  the 
only  lustre  that  makes  it  clear  and  delectable,  so  far  as  material  interests 
reach,  however  happy  otherwise.  We  had  bought  a  corner  lot,  and  had  a 
three-story  and  basement  building  in  process  of  erection,  with  cast-iron  sills 
and  lintels,  the  first  ever  used  in  Harrisburg.  It  was  the  Intelligencer 
Block,  for  a  printing  house  and  other  uses.  The  state  administration  was 
against  us,  but  this  enabled  us  to  make  our  paper  lively  with  attacks  on  it, 
and  an  occasional  sop  of  patronage  from  the  Legislature  kept  us  in  good 
condition.  We  were  wonderfully  patriotic,  as  the  manner  was  then,  and 
having  elected  Gen.  Harrison  President,  the  future  was  as  brilliant  as  an 
aurora  borealis,  and  a  great  deal  easier  to  reach. 

So  promising  were  our  affairs  that  I  had  intervals  of  serious  reflection  on 
the  question  of  what  to  do  with  all  my  riches  when  attained.  Like  the 
maid  with  the  milk  pail,  whose  musings  are  narrated  in  Webster's  spelling 
book,  I  wanted  to  dispense  judiciously,  and  do  all  the  good  possible.  The 
manner  in  which  people  of  wealth  commonly  dispose  of  their  means  had 
never  entirely  satisfied  my  judgment,  and  believing  myself  to  have  rare 
gifts  for  disbursement,  I  intended  to  be  a  model  of  munificence  and  pro 
priety. 


140  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

A  steady  worker,  I  cared  little  for  holidays,  but  as  a  matter  of  public 
spirit,  belonged  to  the  Hope  Fire  Company  and  to  the  Dauphin  Guards. 
The  Guards  believed  themselves  to  be  the  crack  company  of  the  state,  out 
side  of  Philadelphia.  In  the  fall  of  1839  we  visited  that  city,  and  drilled  up 
to  the  best.  Captain  Fritz  recognized  the  Guards  as  the  peer  of  his  own 
famous  company,  and  as  they  escorted  us  through  the  streets,  with  John 
son's  black  band  (splendid  free  Americans  of  African  descent  and  reliable 
color),  the  Philadelphians  stood  on  their  scoured  sidewalks  in  admiration, 
and  not  a  few  of  the  white  window  shutters  were  open,  with  angelic  faces 
looking  out.  Captain  Fritz  gave  us  an  entertainment  at  his  armory  ;  not  the 
lavish  and  tedious  banquet  of  present  times  (costing  enough  to  found  a  wid 
ow's  home,  where  relations  of  some  attending  might  one  day  be  glad  to  find 
shelter),  but  a  '  collation '  made  up  of  cold  meats,  bread  and  butter,  oysters, 
coffee,  et  cetera — the  latter  effervescent  and  exhilarating.  And  then  our 
speeches — brief  and  pointed,  impromptu,  sharp  as  the  bayonets  and  bright 
as  the  polished  barrels  on  our  muskets !  Amused  and  almost  grieved  I  am 
at  a  now-a-days  banquet — an  assemblage  of  patient  men,  with  'menu' 
(Jupiter  !)  and  tardy  waiters,  lagging  away  an  hour  before  the  popping  and 
speeches  begin  ;  and  thinking  all  this  enjoyment !  As  for  the  speeches, 
often  prosy,  and  musty  with  desk  odor,  they  may  do  for  instruction,  per 
haps,  but  for  a  lively  evening — spare  us ! 

Dr.  E.  W.  Roberts  was  the  Captain  of  our  Guards,  and  when  we  marched 
through  the  streets  at  home,  firing  by  platoons  or  by  company  as  if  a  single 
gun  spoke ;  bit  our  cartridges  and  reloaded  as  we  marched  on,  to  bravely 
fire  again  on  the  next  block,  so  that  no  wife,  sweetheart  or  mother  should 
miss  the  display — who  could  hear  without  admiration  a  flint-lock  musket, 
or  measure  the  pride  of  those  who  so  deftly  handled  the  ramrods?  A  tear 
to  thy  memory,  Captain  Roberts  ! — eminent  physician,  and  only  not  a  hero 
for  lack  of  a  chance  in  a  peaceful  time. 

Edwin  Roberts,  nephew  of  the  Captain,  was  our  apprentice  in  Harris- 
burg,  and  in  after  years,  floating  westward,  cast  anchor  in  Jerseyville,  over 
in  the  state  so  upright  on  the  map,  but  whose  French-Indian  name  is  by 
many  smart  people  pronounced  as  if  its  last  syllable  were  noise,  when  the 
correct  vocal  termination  is  noy ;  and  there  he  published  the  State  Argus. 
In  1848  I  wrote  some  sketches  of  "  Detached  Service  "  between  Bent's  Fort 
and  Santa  Fe,  to  illuminate  the  columns  of  the  Argus,  and  those  sketches, 
I  think,  contained  the  first  mention  in  any  public  journal  of  the  coal  in  the 
Raton  Mountain,  on  the  border  of  Colorado  and  New  Mexico.  Here  are 
some  extracts  to  show  how  one's  thoughts  could  run  on  possibilities  so  long 
ago: 

"  We  entered  the  little  valley  leading  up  the  mountain  (Oct.,  1846).  The 
valley  is  very  narrow  and  its  curves  very  serpentine,  though  the  general 
direction  is  nearly  straight.  We  passed  a  splendid  bed  of  coal.  I  suppose 
there  is  no  coal  of  this  variety  of  better  quality.  It  may  be  that  this  coal 
is  not  so  strong  and  that  a  given  quantity  would  not  generate  so  great  a 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  141 

volume  of  steam  as  anthracite  and  other  varieties,  though  of  this  I  am  not 
certain.  But  for  some  purposes  it  must  be  the  best  all.  For  burning  in  a 
grate  it  is  unequalled.  It  ignites  readily,  burns  freely,  with  a  clear,  bright 
flame,  and  seems  to  emit  no  smoke  at  all.  It  is  remarkably  clear  from 
'  dirt,'  and  you  may  handle  any  quantity  of  it  without  soiling  your  fingers. 
As  the  army  marched  to  Santa  Fe  I  procured  a  lump,  and  wrapping  it  in 
part  of  my  overcoat,  strapped  at  the  saddle  bow,  I  carried  it  several  miles 
to  the  next  camp,  without  leaving  the  least  mark  on  the  coat.  At  our  camp 
fire  I  tried  its  burning  qualities,  and  found  that  I  could  ignite  a  small  lump, 
and  after  it  began  to  blaze,  could  carry  it  about  like  a  candle,  the  flame  not 
going  out. 

"  The  vein  where  I  saw  it  is  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  little  valley  from 
the  road.  I  observed  it  as  the  command  passed,  and  rode  over  to  it.  Capt. 
Johnson,  U.  S.  Army,  who  was  aid  to  Gen.  Kearney,  informed  me  that  he 
had  discovered  the  same  vein  in  another  place,  where  it  was  a  solid  vein  of 
beautiful  coal  thirty  feet  in  thickness  !  The  vein  I  visited  must  be  at  least 
twenty,  and  perhaps  thirty  feet  thick.  The  coal  lies  in  regular  strata,  and 
breaks  out  in  square  blocks. 

"  But  how  useless  this  splendid  vein  of  coal !  It  is  almost  lost  time  to 
describe  it,  except  as  a  geological  feature  of  a  distant  region.  Some  men, 
not  having  what  they  consider  their  proper  positions  in  the  business  com 
munity  or  in  general  society,  are  only  remarked  for  the  little  good  they  do. 
This  bed  of  coal,  so  extensive,  so  beautiful,  is  of  no  use  whatever  because  it 
has  not  a  PROPER  LOCATION.  If  I  had  it  near  St.  Louis,  I  would  bid  fare 
well  to  Blackstone,  Chitty,  Kent,  Story,  and  all  such  gentlemen  ;  and,  on 
account  of  the  quality  of  the  coal,  wouldn't  pay  any  attention  even  to  COKE  ! 
(T  hope  to  be  forgiven  for  this  pun.) 

"  Now,  if  there  were  any  probability — any  possibility — of  a  RAILROAD 
ever  being  made  across  the  Raton  in  that  neighborhood,  how  interesting 
would  that  coal  mine  become  !  But  in  the  nature  of  things,  people  say,  this 
seems  to  be  out  of  the  question  ;  and  there  it  must  repose  forever,  one  of  the 
richest  deposits  of  the  world,  '  of  no  use  to  any  one,'  not  even  the  'owner.' 
I  am  not  sure  that  there  is  any  individual  owner.  It  is  said  that  the  firm  of 
Bent  &  St.  Vrain  have  a  grant  from  Gov.  Armijo,  formerly  of  New  Mexico, 
covering  all  the  land  from  the  Taos  Mountains  to  the  Arkansas,  thousands 
on  thousands  of  acres,  and  embracing  this  bed  of  coal.  But  I  would  like  to 
know  what  they  can  '  realize '  from  it. 

"The  amiable  Mr.  ASA  WHITNEY,  projector  of  the  grand  railroad  to 
the  Pacific,  will  be  pleased  to  hear  of  this  immense  coal  deposit.  It  will 
seem  an  earnest  to  him  that  there  are  other  deposits  further  north,  near  the 
proposed  line  of  his  road.  But  he  does  not  need  this  assurance.  The  fact 
of  inexhaustible  beds  of  coal  lying  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Rocky  Moun 
tain  Range,  is  too  well  established  to  require  further  confirmation.  What 
the  '  prospect '  for  coal  is  on  the  western  side  of  the  Range,  in  any  direction 
which  a  railroad,  if  made,  would  be  likely  to  take,  I  am  not  informed. 


142  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

"Perhaps  you  think,  Reader,  that  this  vein  of  coal  is  out  of  place,  thus 
running  through  a  sketch  of '  detached  service?'  But  I  wish,  as  I  go  along, 
to  give  some  account  of  the  geology  of  the  regions  passed.  This  is  informa 
tion.  Now,  amuse  yourself  by  conjecturing  why  this  bed  of  coal  was  put 
away  out  there,  when  we  could  have  used  it  to  so  much  better  advantage  if 
near  St.  Louis.  Can  you  tell  ? 

"  Well — you  can't.  But  all  eyes  are  now  turned  westward.  The  Pacific 
Coast— Oregon,  California— the  Sandwich  Islands— and  China,  are  all  now 
seen  to  be  to  the  WEST  of  us.  We  reflect  on  their  immense  populations,  and 
on  the  increased  trade  that  we  should  have,  particularly  with  the  Islands 
and  China,  if  we  had  but  a  short  and  speedy  means  of  communication,  capa 
ble  of  accommodating  that  trade.  Everybody,  then,  wants  a  RAILROAD  TO 
THE  PACIFIC,  but  many  fear  that  it  is  impracticable.  But  suppose  the  road 
made — and  the  coal  away  up  along  the  mountain  side  used  on  ^—wouldn't 
you  think,  after  all,  that  the  coal  was  put  there  for  a  wise  purpose?" 

Thus  diffidently,  thirty-five  years  ago,  did  I  forecast  the  railroad.  Bos 
ton  capital  and  pluck  have  made  my  supposed  railroad  a  reality.  The 
Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  track  is  laid  up  the  little  valley  described 
by  me  in  1848,  and  crosses  under  the  summit  of  the  Raton  by  a  long  tunnel, 
7,000  feet  above  sea  level.  It  runs  by  '  the  coal  away  up  along  the  mountain 
side,'  the  coal  is  'used  on  it,'  and  it  continues  on  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  as 
pictured  in  my  day  dream  and  published  in  the  Jerseyville  State  Argus. 
It  was  only  a  dream  with  me  then,  but  even  if  I  had  felt  sure  of  the  remark 
able  work  since  accomplished,  I  should  not  have  dared  to  say  so,  lest  con 
tempt  and  ridicule  should  be  visited  on  my  sketches  of  '  Detached  Service.' 

The  Intelligencer  was  not  per  se  profitable,  but  like  other  Harrisburg 
papers  it  gave  us  a  position  from  which  to  handle  our  nets  in  fishing  for 
jobs  of  state  printing.  We  lived  an  easy  life,  but  had  few  relaxations.  As 
to  dissipation,  we  did  not  care  for  it,  and  the  only  hard  drinking  we  did  was 
done  during  the  log  cabin  election  campaign  of  1840,  when  we  drank  hard 
cider,  or  vinegar  under  that  patriotic  name.  We  were  not  well  enough  off 
to  indulge  our  taste,  if  we  had  any,  for  costly  works  of  art,  or  other  stylish 
things,  and  in  the  way  of  turnout,  never  got  beyond  the  buggy  and  the 
venerable  Old  Gray  already  mentioned  in  these  chapters.  To  please  his 
excellent  wife,  M' Curdy,  in  the  summer  of  1841,  had  a  hankering  to  have 
his  portrait  painted  ;  but  I  had  little  thought  for  counterfeit  presentments 
of  any  kind.  A  few  Daguereotypes  were  then  taken  in  Philadelphia,  but 
the  new  art  had  not  reached  the  interior.  There  was  only  one  artist  of  any 
kind  in  Harrisburg,  John  Landis,  who  had  taught  himself  to  paint  what  he 
regarded  as  portraits,  and  who  had  in  a  printed  Autobiography  assured  his 
readers  that  he  '  wr.s  born  a  poet,  a  painter,  and  a  man  of  genius.'  Learn 
ing  that  Landis  was  painting  M'Curdy,  I  visited  his  studio  to  see  how  he 
was  progressing,  but  found  he  had  not  yet  begun  the  picture.  Loitering 
there  among  his  'works,'  I  recognized  a  likeness  of  our  neighbor,  Mr. 
Fitch,  who  kept  the  best  livery  stable  at  the  seat  of  government. 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  143 

"  That's  Fitch,  John,"  I  said  to  Mr.  Landis— "  ftrst-rate  likeness." 

"  Yes,"  he  replied,  "the  portrait  is  very  good,  but  I'm  afraid  he  don't 
mean  to  take  it.  Been  done  three  weeks  and  he  don't  come  for  it." 

"That's  too  bad,  John  ;  too  bad  to  lose  your  labor  that  way." 

"Oh,  well — it's  not  all  lost.  You  see,  I'll  just  turn  the  face  round  the 
other  way,  and  it'll  do  for  M'Curdy  !" 

As  M'Curdy  and  Fitch  were  both  '  hatchet-faced  '  men,  Mr.  Landis  in  a 
short  time  had  a  new  face  on  the  canvas,  but  M'Curdy  insisted  that  the 
whole  figure  must  be  repainted,  and  when  I  again  called  on  the  artist  I 
found  him  hard  at  work  on  the  coat  sleeves. 

"  Why,  John,"  I  said,  "  I  thought  you  had  only  to  put  a  new  face  to  the 
picture?" 

"Yes,  that  was  all  it  needed  ;  but  now  M'Curdy  says  he  won't  wear  Tom 
Fitch's  old  clothes,  and  I  have  to  make  them  all  new  again." 

Envy  is  perhaps  sometimes  pardonable,  and  I  envied  John  Landis  the 
serene  confidence  he  felt  in  his  own  powers.  Wretched  daubs  as  his  paint 
ings  were,  to  him  they  were  gems,  equal  to  anything  by  Angelo  or  Titian. 
To  himself  he  was  the  'poet,  painter  and  man  of  genius.'  In  this  belief  he 
wrought,  and  no  doubt  did  better  work  than  he  could  have  done  but  for  his 
vanity  and  self-confidence.  These  inestimable  elements  of  character  have 
carried  many  a  small  man  into  a  big  place,  while  '  modest  merit '  awaited 
the  recognition  that  never  came.  Yes,  My  Lovely  Lass,  after  you  and 
Charley  are  some  years  married,  and  your  boys  gather  round  you,  teach 
them  deference  to  age,  respect  for  womanhood,  and  unflinching  truth  and 
honesty,  but  never  humility  in  any  presence  but  that  of  their  Creator. 

Mr.  Landis  was  perhaps  a  fool,  but  not  of  the  kind  of  whom  we  say  '  one 
fool  makes  many.'  His  fancies  were  harmless.  He  was  a  lone  man,  but 
gifted  to  enjoy  the  consciousness  of  powers  which  no  one  else  could  dis 
cover  ;  a  hermit  in  the  crowd ;  and  perhaps  his  loneliness  was  a  sort  of  wis 
dom,  although  the  world  cares  little  for  the  man  apart,  simpleton  or  sage. 

'  Men  think  in  herds,'  some  one  has  said,  intending  a  sneer,  but  only  by 
this  concurrence  of  thought  and  will  are  great  measures  of  usefulness  accom 
plished.  A  herd  of  barons  laid  Magna  Charta  before  King  John  at  Runny- 
mede,  and  compelled  him  to  sign  the  parchment.  A  herd  of  rebels  became 
patriots  by  wresting  thirteen  colonies  from  King  George. 

If  men  in  herds  commit  follies,  we  need  not  wonder  ;  for  as  each  separate 
member  may  think  rightly  or  wrongly,  so  may  the  herd.  If  one  man  may 
become  insane,  or  fanatical,  any  number  may  be  affected  in  like  manner, 
and  we  may  all  go  crazy  together.  The  imagination  of  each  is  liable  to  be 
inflamed  by  anything  that  inflames  the  imagination  of  others,  and  hence 
the  spectacle  of  a  whole  community  going  mad  on  any  subject  may  be 
deplorable,  but  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  Cynical  folks  think  '  mankind  is  a 
great  fool'  and  sometimes  add  'with  a  little  knave  in  him  top;'  but  we 
manage  to  keep  together  in  communities,  and  nobody  can  prove  that  any 
other  planet  has  better  or  more  sensible  people  than  our  own. 


144  NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

The  tulip  mania,  in  Holland,  that  reached  its  utmost  heat  and  intensity 
in  1636,  may  be  lamented  as  a  spectacle  of  folly,  with  some  infusion  of 
knavery,  but  was  especially  wonderful  rather  for  the  kind  than  the  degree 
of  madness.  For  a  whole  people  to  go  crazy  over  a  plant  with  only  the 
color  of  its  flower  to  recommend  it,  seems  extremely  absurd.  A  mania  for 
pinks,  violets,  or  any  odorous  flower,  would  seem  less  unreasonable, — but  a 
mania  for  tulips  !  One  may  almost  regard  it  as  a  special  Providence,  teach 
ing  the  Dutch  the  art  of  bulb-propagation,  in  order  that  they  might,  nearly 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  later,  supply  other  countries  with  tulips,  hya 
cinths,  and  lillies,  as  they  do  now.  It  was  possibly  the  l  sporting  '  of  the 
tulip,  in  producing  varieties  from  seed,  that  led  to  the  gambling  in  the 
bulbs,  some  of  which  were  sold  for  five  or  six  thousand  florins  each.  Or  if 
the  Dutch  burghers  were  in  the  habit  of  wearing  as  many  pairs  of  breeches 
at  once,  as  Irving  tells  us  the  burghers  of  '  New  Amsterdam '  wore,  it  may 
be  that  the  multiplex  coverings  of  the  tulips  touched  their  affections  by 
suggesting  a  resemblance  to  the  many  coverings  on  their  own  persons. 

If  plain  people  are  disposed  to  look  with  disgust  at  some  of  the  scenes  on 
modern  Exchanges,  where  stock  gambling  prevails  (while  the  faithful  faro 
dealer  is  punished  as  a  criminal),  let  us  remember  that  so  great  was  the 
demand  in  Holland  in  1636  for  tulips  of  rare  species,  that  regular  marts  for 
the  sale  of  the  bulbs  were  established  in  Amsterdam,  Rotterdam,  and  other 
cities,  and  that  '  bulls '  and  '  bears  y  speculated  on  the  rise  and  fall  of  tho 
tulip  market  as  actively  as  our  modern  wolves  and  lambs  at  a  New  York 
stock  board.  The  people,  we  are  told,  'rushed  to  the  tulip  marts  like  flies 
around  a  honey  pot.'  The  passion  for  tulips  was  to  last  forever,  and  the 
wealthy  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  it  was  supposed,  would  pay  whatever 
prices  were  demanded.  The  riches  of  Europe  were  to  concentrate  on  the 
shores  of  the  Zuyder  Zee.  Nobles,  citizens,  farmers,  all  classes,  even  to  the 
old-clothes  women,  dabbled  in  tulips.  Property  was  turned  into  bulbs. 
Foreigners  were  smitten  with  the  frenzy,  and  money  poured  into  Holland. 

At  first  confidence  was  high,  and  profits  good ;  but  at  length  prices 
began  to  fall,  and  never  rose  again.  Hundreds  of  people  who  had  doubted 
if  there  was  such  a  thing  as  poverty  in  the  world,  found  themselves  with  a 
few  bulbs  that  nobody  would  buy.  A  cry  of  distress  arose,  and  each  accused 
his  neighbor.  Some  had  enriched  themselves,  and  invested  in  English  or 
other  funds,  but  many  were  ruined.  Merchants  and  nobles  alike  went 
down.  Parties  who  had  contracted  for  bulbs  refused  to  take  them,  and  the 
holders  appealed  to  the  government,  but  it  could  only  suggest  compromise. 
No  court  would  enforce  the  contracts.  The  judges  ruled  that  tulip  debts 
were  gambling  debts  ;  and  this  seems  to  be  good  law  yet,  in  grain  and  pork 
wagers,  over  here  where  we  never  go  crazy  about  tulips. 

Tulips  sold  at  fancy  prices  in  Scotland  as  late  as  the  close  of  the  seven 
teenth  century.  Their  value  declined  from  that  time  till  1759 ;  but  in  1800  a 
common  price  in  England  was  fifteen  guineas  for  a  single  bulb.  In  1835  a 
bulb  called  Fanny  Kemble  was  sold  at  auction  in  London  for  seventy-five 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  145 

pounds,  and  a  gardener  at  Chelsea  had  in  his  catalogue  a  tulip  priced  at 
two  hundred  pounds.  This  condensed  account  of  the  tulip  mania  will 
benefit  those  who  may  not  have  ready  access  to  books,  and  may  not  know 
how  much  greater  fools  than  we  there  have  been  even  in  sober  Holland, 
sturdy  England  and  thrifty  Scotland. 

About  1719  John  Law  started  the  French  after  fortune,  and  they  went 
crazy  ;  but  there  was  some  basis  for  expectation  of  material  wealth  at  the 
bottom  of  his  'Mississippi  Scheme.'  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  '  South 
Sea  Bubble'  immediately  following  in  England,  based  on  the  hope  of  dis 
tant  commerce  in  useful  articles.  Hence  the  Hollanders  remain  entitled  to 
the  credit  of  having  indulged  the  most  absurd  craze  known  to  civil  history. 

These  references  to  the  long  past  are  a  prelude  to  the  mania  we  had  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  also  in  other  states,  two  hundred  years  after  the  culmi 
nation  of  the  tulip  frenzy  in  Holland.  But  our  lapse  from  common  sense 
had  a  supposed  possibility  of  usefulness  in  it,  as  we  went  crazy  in  a  small 
way  on  silk  culture.  For  some  years  the  silk  fever  had  been  spreading  and 
growing  hotter  and  hotter,  reaching  its  quickest  pulse  from  1837  to  1842 ;  not 
manifested  so  much  in  the  actual  hatching  and  feeding  of  silk  worms,  or 
the  reeling  of  fibre  from  cocoons,  as  in  the  growing  and  especially  the  pur 
chasing  of  mulberry  trees.  Worms  to  produce  silk  must  eat,  and  of  all  the 
productions  of  nature  the  Morus  Mullicaulis  was  the  tree  to  furnish  the 
food.  It  was  the  new  tree  of  knowledge,  that  was  to  shelter  us  all  under  its 
benignant  foliage,  in  the  paradise  of  incalculable  profits,  and  no  flaming 
sword  could  keep  us  out  of  that  Eden.  Shrewd  propagators,  all  apparently 
confident  of  the  future  prosperity  of  silk,  grew  the  trees  by  hundreds  of 
thousands,  and  found  ready  sale  to  vermiculous  people,  who  had  worms  to 
feed  and  visions  of  endless  wealth.  The  family  without  a  plantation  of 
Morus  Multicaulis  was  the  family  without  a  patch  of  ground  or  money  to 
buy  the  trees.  No  class  was  excluded  from  the  magic  circle,  in  which 
wealth  was  to  rise  up  and  bless  us  as  if  by  incantation.  Mechanics,  labor- 
era,  professionals,  all  classes,  sinners  and  saints,  were  alike  intent  on  giving 
our  dear  country  a  new  industry  and  enriching  themselves.  But  none  could 
get  trees  on  credit,  or  in  barter  for  other  '  truck,'  as  cash  was  ready  for  all 
that  could  be  grown. 

Exact  calculations  were  made  and  published  of  the  growth  in  a  season  of 
each  twig  on  a  Morus  tree,  the  number  and  size  of  the  leaves  it  would  pro 
duce,  tne  precise  time  it  would  take  a  worm  of  given  age  to  consume  a  leaf 
of  given  dimensions,  and  how  much  the  worm  would  grow  while  eating  the 
leaf,  with  an  estimate  made  up  from  the  length  and  diameter  of  the  worm  of 
the  exact  number  of  yards  of  silk  it  would  be  sure  to  spin  for  its  cocoon  ;  and 
these  calculations,  having  as  we  were  assured  been  carefully  revised  by  an 
eminent  mathematician  in  the  Franklin  Institue,  were  unquestionably  reli 
able.  Everybody  was  deep  in  arboriculture  and  vermeology ;  and  what  we 
did  not  know  about  mulberry  trees  for  feeding  silk  worms  was  not  worth 
knowing ;  and  what  we  did  not  know  about  worms,  and  '  the  diet  of  worms,' 


146  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

and  cocoons,  and  reeling  of  fibre,  and  weaving  of  silk  and  satin  could  not  be 
learned. 

Among  their  party  war  cries  and  assaults  on  political  adversaries,  the 
newspapers,  then  as  now  inspired  by  the  highest  intelligence  and  patriot 
ism,  crowded  in  foliated  essays  on  the  Morus  tree,  and  vermiculous  para 
graphs  telling  how  to  feed  and  care  for  l  the  worm  that  never  dies  till  its 
life  is  spun  into  a  thread  of  silk,'  together  with*  touching  tributes  to  family 
industry,  and  young  ladies  with  worms,  and  leaves  to  nourish  them.  An 
era  of  amazing  prosperity  was  opening,  or  was  in  fact  begun,  and  fabrics  of 
silk  were  to  become  so  abundant  and  cheap  that  not  only  would  we  com 
mand  the  markets  of  the  world,  but  at  home  the  commonalty  even  would 
all  wear  silk,  and  the  gentry  and  nabobs,  for  distinction,  might  dress  in 
cotton  and  wool,  or  if  they  chose  (despite  climatic  objections)  go  back  to  fig 
leaves. 

A  national  silk  convention  was  held  in  Harrisburg,  John  S.  Skinner,  a 
famous  agricultural  editor  of  Baltimore,  the  most  prominent  personage. 
There  was  no  real  silk  ready  for  wear,  but  cocoons,  and  worms,  and  mul 
berry  trees,  and  leaves  were  displayed  in  profusion,  as  insignia  of  national 
grandeur  and  individual  opulence, — to  be  realized ;  but  the  national  grand 
eur  did  not  ensue  from  all  the  productive  material  displayed,  and  the 
opulence  was  limited  to  the  men  who  sold  the  trees.  We  had,  however, 
done  our  whole  duty,  and  judged  by  its  fruits  in  the  pockets  of  the  growers, 
the  Morus  Multicaulis  was  a  bountiful  tree,  although  I  have  not  seen  it  or 
scarcely  heard  of  it  for  forty  years ;  and  now  Prof.  C.  V.  Blley  tells  us  that 
the  Madura  aurantiaca,  or  Osage  Orange,  is  the  tree  for  silk,  as  we  can  feed 
the  worms  from  the  clippings  of  our  hedges.  Still,  I  have  rather  pleasant 
memories  of  the  silk  mania  ;  for  while  M'Curdy  and  I  had  no  trees,  worms 
or  cocoons,  we  yet  made  a  nice  profit  printing  the  doings  of  the  national 
silk  convention,  which  the  stupid  world  has  forgotten.  The  only  regret  I 
have  in  connection  with  our  silk  fever  is,  that  in  illustrious  absurdity  the 
tulip-dealing  Dutchmen  of  two  hundred  years  before  remain  immeasurably 
ahead  of  us.  If  it  had  been  the  sprightly  Frenchmen  (who  played  the  fool 
so  admirably  in  the  days  of  John  Law),  we  might  rest  content;  but  for 
Americans  to  be  outdone  in  folly  by  the  phlegmatic  Hollander  is  intolerable, 

It  does  not  appear  that  stock  companies  were  formed  during  the  tulip 
mania  in  Holland,  or  the  Mississippi  foolery  in  France;  but  in  England 
during  the  excitement  over  the  South  Sea  shares,  bubble  companies  were 
formed  by  dozens,  and  shares  sold  for  a  great  variety  of  enterprises  ;  among 
others,  one  *  for  carrying  on  a  great  undertaking,  but  nobody  to  know  what  it 
is !'  Shares  were  actually  sold  in  this  company,  but  the  nature  of  the  great 
undertaking  was  never  divulged.  The  English  can  at  any  time  beat  the 
Americans  in  manias  and  joint  stock  companies.  The  railroad  craze  in 
1848,  when  Mr.  Hudson  figured  as  the  'Railroad  King,'  has  never  been 
equalled  on  this  side  of  the  water. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  TEARS.  147 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

JOHN  TYLERS  DECORUM  —  A  HEADLESS  GOVERNMENT  —  A  WONDERFUL  ORGAN 
IZATION —  CONGRESS  CONVENES  —  MR.  CLAY  —  INDEPENDENT  TREASURY 
REPEALED  —  BANK  VETO  —  DINNER  AT  THE  VAN  KOBLE  HOUSE  —  WHIGS 
DENOUNCE  —  DEMOCRATS  COURT  THE  PRESIDENT  —  STUDENT  AT  LAW  — A 
FOURTH  STORY — A  RELATION  IN  THE  STATE  SENATE  —  MR.  TYLER'S  PLAN 
—  A  DIAGRAM  DEMONSTRATION  —  ENJOYABLE  EVENINGS  AT  THE  WHITE 
HOUSE — UNAPPRECIATED  SERVICE. 

John  Tyler,  the  Vice  President,  was  at  his  farm  on  the  James  river 
below  Richmond,  when  President  Harrison  died,  April  4,  1841.  It  was 
known  that  the  President  was  very  ill,  and  might  at  any  moment  be  called 
away ;  but  a  proper  delicacy  kept  Mr.  Tyler  from  the  capital.  He  would 
not  seem  to  be  waiting  to  step  into  a  dead  President's  shoes ;  and  while 
hopes  of  the  old  hero's  recovery  became  weaker,  no  one  at  Washington  felt 
authorized  to  send  for  the  Vice  President.  There  was  consequently  an 
'  interregnum,'  as  Ben  ton  styles  it,  until  a  messenger,  sent  by  the  cabinet, 
could  bring  Mr.  Tyler  from  his  Virginia  home.  The  example  of  decorum 
then  set  by  the  Vice  President  was  observed  in  the  case  of  Vice  President 
Arthur,  but  the  much-abused  'Captain  Tyler,'  as  Botts  of  Virginia  called 
him,  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  the  precedent. 

The  government  was  for  several  days  absolutely  without  an  official 
head,  and  it  was  then  a  matter  of  surprise  to  some  persons  that  a  govern 
ment  could  go  on  headless,  as  if  nothing  had  occurred ;  but  it  has  often 
since  been  without  its  head  at  Washington.  The  only  serious  damage  from 
our  interregnum,  was  that  suffered  by  the  office-seeking  patriots.  Delay 
was  to  them  disaster.  Board  bills  ran  on,  and  money  ran  out.  They  de 
plored  the  sad  condition  of  the  country,  deprived  of  their  services;  and 
besides,  who  could  tell,  now  that  'Old  Tip.'  was  gone,  whether  or  not  this 
abstract  Virginian— who  had  been  put  on  the  ticket  in  a  hap-hazard  way, 
by  a  convention  that  issued  no  platform, — would  turn  out  a  reliable  '  Tyler 
too.' 

As  if  its  parts,  like  those  of  the  solar  system,  moved  harmoniously,  in 
obedience  to  some  occult  law,  the  government  went  quietly  on  ;  and  the 
democratic  incumbents  of  office  seemed  provokingly  well  satisfied  to  take 


148  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

their  chances  under  the  accidental  President.  They  apparently  felt  no 
anxiety  for  the  government  or  the  country,  and  did  not  chafe  in  the  least 
under  a  delay  intolerable  to  the  expectant  patriots.  It  is  truly  a  wonderful 
organization,  that  national-federal  government  of  ours.  A  study  of  it  for 
half  a  century  has  only  the  effect  of  augmenting  our  respect  and  homage 
for  the  men  who  framed  it ;  and,  happily,  one  requisite  thought  by  them  to 
be  essential  to  its  safety,  is  found  by  experience  to  be  of  less  consequence 
than  they  believed.  It  does  not  appear  to  be  at  all  necessary  for  the  people 
to  choose  their  ablest  men  to  administer  it.  Like  a  Swiss  toy,  we  can  make 
a  President  of  timber  too  soft  for  many  uses  of  daily  life.  Our  accidental 
Presidents,  and  others  not  superior  to  them,  have  with  good  advisers  gotten 
on  well  enough,  if  we  look  only  to  the  general  management  of  public  affairs, 
without  reference  to  the  distribution  of  patronage. 

President  Harrison  had  in  March  issued  a  Proclamation  convening  Con 
gress  31st  May.  Some  days  after  his  accession  to  the  place  that  we  had  not 
thought  of  his  filling,  Mr.  Tyler  issued  an  addrees  to  the  people  as  a  kind  of 
inaugural,  telling  them  that  he  would  carry  out  Gen.  Harrison's  views  as 
well  as  he  could;  and  when  Congress  met  he  sent  in  a  formal  message. 
But  there  was  distrust.  It  was  feared  that  Tyler  was  not  a  reliable  *  whig.? 
Confusion  and  some  dismay  pervaded  the  camp  of  the  patriots.  The  distri 
bution  of  offices  did  not  go  on  fast  enough  for  the  zealous,  nor  with  wisdom 
in  selections  to  satisfy  the  judicious. 

Mr.  Clay  was  not  in  a  pleasant  mood.  Vexed  that  Gen.  Harrison  should 
have  been  the  whig  nominee  for  President  instead  of  himself,  and  uncon 
scious  of  the  fact  that  he  probably  could  not  have  been  elected,  as  Harrison 
was,  by  log  cabins,  hard  cider,  coonskins  and  songs,  he  was  disposed  to  be 
troublesome,  especially  as  his  opinions  of  what  the  country  needed  were 
likely  to  clash  with  those  of  Mr.  Tyler.  As  soon  as  Congress  met,  the  great 
Senator  presented  a  set  of  propositions,  setting  forth  what  he  thought  Con 
gress  ought  to  do.  As  Benton  says,  '  The  President  had  addressed  a  message 
to  Congress ;  Mr.  Clay  virtually  delivered  another.'  The  first  thing  to  be 
done,  according  to  Mr.  Clay,  was  to  repeal  the  Independent  Treasury  act, 
which  had  become  a  law  in  June,  1840  ;  and  the  next  thing  was  to  create  a 
new  United  States  Bank. 

The  bill  to  repeal  the  Treasury  act  was  at  once  passed.  The  whigs  made 
good  their  promises.  But  the  democrats  re-enacted  it  under  President  Polk, 
in  1846,  and  nobody  of  any  party  would  now  disturb  it. 

Mr.  Tyler's  message  had  contained  some  rather  vague  phrases  about  the 
kind  of '  fiscal  agent'  he  thought  necessary,  and  the  bank  bill  was  passed, 
only  to  be  returned  with  his  veto.  Then  came  the  storm.  The  whigs  gen 
erally  were  exasperated  ;  but  the  democrats  were  in  excellent  humor. 

At  boarding  houses  in  Washington  now  meals  are  served  in  restaurant 
style,  each  guest  coming  in  when  he  pleases ;  but  in  the  good  old  times  it 
was  the  custom  for  all  to  come  at  once,  and  with  the  hostess  presiding  at 
head  of  table,  a  boarding  house  dinner  was  like  a  family  gathering,  and  had 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  149 

none  of  the  features  of  present  modes.  Generally  the  guests  were  all  demo 
crats  or  all  whigs,  as  party  feeling  ran  too  high  for  mixtures  to  be  agree 
able.  Mrs.  Van  Koble's,  on  4£  street,  was  a  whig  house.  No  democrat 
would  have  been  comfortable  there.  Our  felicitations  over  the  repeal  of  the 
Treasury  act  would  have  been  discord  to  democratic  ears,  and  our  plans 
for  the  future  could  not  have  been  discussed  in  their  presence.  No  more 
would  a  whig  have  been  comfortable  at  a  democratic  boarding  house  in 
those  patriotic  days,  when  if  all  politicians  were  not  honest,  they  were  at 
least  intensely  in  earnest. 

The  bank  veto  had  come  in,  and  we  had  all  met  at  dinner.  Perfect  lady 
that  she  was,  Mrs.  Van  Koble  had  on  her  usual  smile,  as  she  directed  the 
trained  servants.  But  there  was  no  other  smile  in  the  room,  unless  among 
the  sable  waiters,  who  cared  no  more  for  John  Tyler  and  his  vetoes  than 
they  did  for  the  northwest  passage.  A  general  frown  rested  on  all  brows. 
Mostly  whig  members  of  Congress,  the  boarders  were  exasperated  by  the 
veto.  They  wanted  the  bank,  and  wanted  Mr.  Clay  sustained.  But  hungry 
men  must  eat,  and  for  a  time  it  was  a  very  quiet  dinner ;  the  calm  before  the 
storm.  Soon,  however,  appetite  was  appeased,  and  then  the  pent  up  fury 
broke  out.  Denunciations  of  Mr.  Tyler  would  start  at  one  end,  like  the 
rattle  of  musketry,  and  run  to  the  other  end  of  the  table,  with  an  occasional 
explosion  from  some  pursy  old  whig  like  Foot  of  Vermont,  coming  in  as 
the  boom  of  artillery  ;  and  so  it  went  on  for  an  hour,  as  we  cracked  our  nuts 
and  sipped  our  coffee.  They  were  all  determined  to  show  Mr.  Tyler  that 
they,  and  not  he,  were  the  power  to  rule  this  great  country. 

Too  young  to  keep  quiet,  T  spoke  also.  I  had  been  six  years  an  editor, 
was  one  still,  and  thought  I  had  rights.  I  told  them  they  seemed  to  forget 
that  the  bank  question  was  not  before  the  people  in  1840 ;  that  we  studiously 
and  purposely  ignored  it;  that  the  party  was  not  pledged  to  establish  a 
bank,  and  that  Mr.  Tyler  was  never  held  up  to  the  people  as  in  favor  of  it. 
He  was  bound  by  no  pledge  to  sign  a  bank  bill.  "  You  intend,"  I  said,  "  to 
quarrel  with  the  President.  The  democrats  will  court  him,  and  try  to  use 
him.  You  will  throw  away  the  remaining  three  years  and  six  months  of 
his  term.  They  will  get  the  benefit  of  it,  and  then  throw  him  aside."  I 
had  my  say,  but  nothing  came  of  it.  No  one  gave  up  his  opinion  for  mine. 

The  democrats  in  considerable  numbers  called  at  the  White  House  in  the 
evening  to  congratulate  the  President  on  his  veto ;  while  the  whigs  at  the 
capital  were  caucussing,  and  denouncing  '  Captain  Tyler.'  It  was  a  memo 
rable  night,  and  Mr.  Clay,  in  the  Senate  next  day,  pictured  with  much 
humor  the  visit  of  the  democratic  Senators  to  the  President,  with  Mr. 
Buchanan  as  spokesman,  and  Ben  ton  as  one  of  the  callers.  The  two  Sena 
tors  denied  having  been  at  the  White  House  at  all,  and  Mr.  Buchanan 
retorted  with  sprightly  delineations  of  the  whigs  in  angry  caucus  at  the 
eastern  end  of  the  avenue.  It  was  a  good-natured  debate  on  the  surface, 
but  on  the  whig  side  there  was  a  bitter  feeling  beneath ;  and  the  breach 
between  Mr.  Tyler  and  the  whigs  became  wider  as  time  went  on,  while  the 


150  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEAKS. 

democrats  quietly  got  their  ladles  ready  for  a  dip  into  the  stream  of  patron 
age. 

Mr.  Webster  sustained  President  Tyler,  and  did  not  quit  the  cabinet  ; 
but  was  the  only  very  prominent  whig  in  office  who  stood  by  him.  Thomas 
Allen,  in  the  Madisonian,  supported  the  administration,  but  at  the  earliest 
opportunity  sold  out  the  paper  to  John  B.  Jones,  and  Jones  became  the 
organist. 

My  predictions  at  the  dinner  on  veto  day  were  realized.  The  whigs 
threw  away  the  administration  and  the  democrats  picked  it  up.  Mr.  Clay 
and  his  friends  were  in  the  wrong,  as  I  thought,  and  I  gave  the  support  of 
my  newspaper  to  the  President's  veto. 

When  I  got  home  to  Harrisburg,  I  called  on  Frederick  K.  Boas,  a  lawyer 
with  whom  I  had  entered  my  name  as  a  student,  and  ascertained  that  I 
might  apply  for  license  to  practice  law  as  soon  as  I  could  qualify  myself. 
Three  years  had  nearly  elapsed  since  I  constructively  became  a  student, 
and  I  was  all  right  on  the  record,  though  I  had  read  no  law.  I  had  the 
anchor  to  windward,  and  if  the  storm  came  it  might  hold. 

The  whigs  were  almost  unanimously  against  Mr.  Tyler,  and  the  course 
of  our  paper,  honestly  directed  as  it  was,  might  lose  us  the  state  senate 
printing,  and  that  would  complicate  our  personal  affairs. 

"Mr.  M'Curdy,"  I  said  to  my  partner,  "I  want  to  modify  the  contract 
for  that  building  of  ours." 

11  What  for?  They  are  going  on  all  right ;  will  be  ready  for  the  roof  in  a 
week." 

«  Yes — I  know — three  stories  and  basement,  with  shingle  roof." 

"Well?" 

"That  might  do  if  things  were  going  on  as  expected  ;  but  the  death  of 
President  Harrison  has  changed  everything. 

"  But  we  can't  stop  it  now." 

"I  don't  want  to  stop  it.  On  the  contrary,  I  want  to  put  on  another 
story,  and  roof  it  with  zinc." 

"Gee-whillikins!"  he  exclaimed  (his  way  of  swearing),  "what  do  you 
want  to  do  that  for?  What  do  you  want  with  more  room  ?" 

"  I  don't  want  more  room.  I  only  want  to  put  up  a  building  to  be  proud 
of— the  only  four-story  building  in  town,  except  Wilson's  Hotel." 

"  But  we  don't  need  it." 

"  Yes  we  do.  If  we  get  the  senate  printing  next  winter,  we  are  all  right. 
If  we  don't  get  it,  the  sheriff  will  sell  that  building,— J  will  go  away,— and 
I  want  a  tip-top  building  to  look  at  as  partly  my  own  work,  if  I  ever  visit 
the  place  in  after  years  !" 

M'Curdy  was  a  sanguine  man ;  thought  we  would  get  the  senate  print 
ing,  and  come  out  with  plenty  of  cash.  It  was  therefore  not  difficult  to  get 
his  consent  to  modify  the  building  contract.  The  fourth  story  was  put  on, 
and  a  zinc  roof  covered  the  Intelligencer  Block,  which,  with  its  cast-iron 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  151 

sills  and  lintels,  was  one  of  the  best  buildings  then  at  the  capital  of  the 
state. 

When  the  senate  met  we  were  tabooed.  So  far  as  sixteen  whig  senators 
were  concerned,  no  '  Tyler  man '  could  get  a  spoon  into  that  porridge  pot. 
Sixteen  democratic  senators  would  only  vote  for  straight  democrats.  All 
depended  on  the  thirty-third  man — a  whig  who  did  not  care  for  Clay  or 
Tyler,  but  who,  as  the  husband  of  a  grand-daughter  of  a  cousin  of  my  grand 
mother,  felt  a  sort  of  family  affection  for  me.  This  gentleman  would  vote 
for  M'Curdy  or  for  me,  or  for  any  one  we  preferred,  only  stipulating  that 
the  candidate  should  be  able  to  do  the  work,  and  be  trustworthy.  Boas  & 
Copelnnd,  the  democratic  candidates,  could  do  the  work,  and  we  thought 
them  very  trustworthy,  as  they  were  to  give  us  a  share  of  the  profits  if 
elected.  We  assured  our  senatorial  friend  that  they  were  excellent  gentle 
men  to  vote  for,  and  like  a  respectable  and  true-hearted  family  connexion 
as  he  was,  he  voted  for  them.  M'Curdy  and  I  got  the  promised  dividend, 
which  did  not,  however,  save  our  perilled  fortunes ;  and  I  have  only  told 
this  tale  to  show  that  state  patronage  was  as  greedily  sought  long  ago  as  it 
is  now,  and  that  we  did  not  scruple  even  to  trade  a  senator's  vote  for  it. 

Mr.  Tyler  had  an  excellent  plan.  We  were  to  have  a  new  party,  with 
him  at  the  head.  He  wanted  to  concentrate  the  honest  men  of  both  parties 
into  one  grand  patriotic  combination,  that  would  sweep  all  others  out  of  the 
way,  and  on  a  sort  of  tidal  wave  bear  him  into  the  Presidency  at  the  elec 
tion  of  1844.  He  was  beautifully  sincere  in  this,  and  believed  that  the  best 
interests  of  the  country  depended  011  his  success.  But  excellent  as  his  plan 
was,  it  had  one  serious  drawback :  it  was  impracticable.  The  John  Tyler 
party  germinated  feebly,  but  its  growth  did  not  equal  that  of  a  hill  of  beans, 
planted  in  the  dark  of  the  moon.  Still,  his  flatterers,  who  wanted  office, 
kept  up  his  faith,  and  at  times  he  was  sanguine  that  he  would  be  able  to 
save  the  country.  When  Henry  S.  Spackman,  an  eloquent  state  senator 
from  Philadelphia,  called  on  the  President  in  the  fall  of  1842,  Mr.  Tyler 
was  looking  forward  to  a  nomination  even  by  the  next  whig  national  con 
vention. 

"  I'll  demonstrate  it  to  you,  Mr.  Spackman,"  he  said,  taking  a  pencil  and 
drawing  a  triangle  at  the  top  of  a  sheet  of  paper. 

"That,  you  see,  is  the  Baltimore  Convention — do  you  not?" 

Mr.  Spackman  said  he  saw.  The  President  then  drew  a  triangle  half 
way  down  the  sheet  on  the  right  side. 

"  That,"  said  he,  "  is  Daniel  Webster." 

Then,  drawing  another  triangle  on  the  left  side — 

"That  is  Henry  Clay,  Mr.  Spackman.  You  perceive,"  he  continued, 
placing  his  pencil  at  the  upper  triangle — "here  I  am."  Then,  pencil  in 
hand — "  I  go  into  the  Baltimore  Convention,  and  at  one  stroke  I  cut  off  the 
heads  of  Daniel  Webster  and  Henry  Clay !" 

And  as  he  spoke,  his  pencil  swept  from  the  upper  triangle,  with  a  curve 
through  both  lower  ones,  as  a  demonstration  not  to  be  disputed. 


152  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

"  That  is  perfectly  clear  and  satisfactory,  is  it  not,  Mr.  Spackman  ?" 
"  Perfectly,"  replied  Mr.  S. ;  "but  I  confess,  Mr.  President,  I  never  saw 
the  matter  exactly  in  that  light  before !" 

With  all  his  weakness  for  a  Tyler  party,  and  his  hope  of  an  election  by 
the  people,  the  President  neglected  none  of  the  great  duties  of  his  office,  and 
his  administration  wore  along  as  successfully  as  if  he  had  never  doubted 
the  fidelity  of  a  Clay  whig,  or  pinned  his  faith  to  a  smiling  and  slippery 
democrat.  John  Tyler  was  an  honest  man  and  pleasant  gentleman.  In 
social  life,  none  more  urbane  and  agreeable  in  conversation,  or  more  solicit 
ous  for  the  happiness  of  'all  about  him.  The  informal  evenings  at  the 
White  House  were  extremely  enjoyable,  and  no  one  could  see  him  in  the 
unrestraint  of  his  home  without  feeling  that  his  many  virtues  outweighed 
his  few  foibles.  But  not  till  the  close  of  his  term  did  he  realize  that  ap 
pointing  a  few  friendly  democrats  to  office,  mixed  with  the  faithful  Tyler 
whigs,  would  not  build  up  a  separate  political  party  with  him  at  its  head. 
The  service  done  by  Mr.  Tyler  to  the  financial  interests  of  the  country  by 
his  bank  veto  has  never  been  appreciated. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  153 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

LAW  STUDIES — EXAMINATION  OF  STUDENTS  —  COMPLIMENTARY  REMARKS  OF 
SENIOR  COMMITTEEMAN  —  FOUR  ADMITTED  —  THE  SHINGLE  PUT  OUT  — 
DAVID'S  SUGGESTION — PROPRIETY  OF  TAKING  OFFICE  —  CLERKS  AT  WASH 
INGTON— LADIES  —  MRS.  POTIPHAR  NOT  THERE  — JOSEPH  NOT  THERE 
EITHER— POLITE  BOARDERS —  CALL  ON  MR.  TYLER —  CLERKSHIP  SECURED 
—  BOARDERS  SURPRISED  —  CLERKSHIP  GIVEN  UP  —  INDIAN  SERVICE  PRE 
FERRED —  THE  SECRETARY  OF  WAR  —  GEN.  CAMERON'S  KINDNESS  —  HOW 
TO  GET  TO  COUNCIL  BLUFFS  —  JESSE  BENTON  FREMONT. 

After  some  six  or  eight  weeks  of  diligent  study  I  thought  myself  ready 
in  the  fall  of  1842  to  be  admitted  to  the  bar.  The  full  term  of  three  years  of 
study  had  been  constructively  completed,  and  short  as  the  time  of  actual 
devotion  to  legal  lore  may  seem,  I  decided  to  submit  to  examination.  I  had 
absorbed  Blackstone,  Kent,  Story  and  Greenleaf ;  and  there  used  to  be  a 
great  deal  of  law  and  equity  in  this  quartet.  Many  of  the  definitions  and 
maxims  had  been  committed  to  memory — the  law  latin  of  the  latter  having 
as  fresh  a  relish  for  me  as  if  direct  from  Cicero — and  thus  I  had  a  goodly 
store  of  elements  on  hand.  Besides,  it  was  a  matter  of  course  that  Col. 
John  Boberts,  as  the  oldest  member  of  the  bar,  would  be  at  the  head  of  the 
examining  committee,  and  it  was  well  known  that  if  the  student  could  get 
the  venerable  senior  started  in  a  discussion  of  '  the  difference  between  a 
vested  and  contingent  remainder,'  or  of  'the  rule  in  Shelley's  case,'  he 
would  probably  get  through  without  having  to  answer  a  great  many  ques 
tions. 

There  were  four  to  be  examined  :  Joseph  Allison,  since  for  many  years  a 
judge  in  .Philadelphia ;  Richard  McAllister,  a  lawyer  in  Washington  ;  David 
Fleming,  of  whom  I  have  lost  sight;  and  myself.,  We  met  early,  and 
arranged  with  Capt.  Hale,  mine  host  of  the  tavern,  to  enter  with  oysters 
and  champagne  about  9.30,  true  time,  but  to  have  the  hands  of  his  watch 
and  the  office  clock  suitably  regulated.  When  the  committee  had  assem 
bled,  four  as  modest  and  decorous  young  gentlemen  as  need  be  were  ready 
for  the  ordeal.  With  different  questions  to  each  in  succession  the  examina 
tion  went  on  until  we  got  the  senior  of  the  committee  into  '  vested  and  con- 


154  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

tingent  remainders,'  and  from  that  into  'the  rule  in  Shelley's  case;'  and 
then  the  examination  seemed  to  be  reversed,  as  the  students  were  all  so 
desirous  to  have  abstruse  points  cleared  up  that  Col.  Roberts  was  occupied 
in  giving  us  explanations  instead  of  putting  questions,  when  Capt.  Hale 
appeared  with  the  table  cloth  on  his  arm  and  two  waiters  behind  him  with 
trays.  The  student's  protested  that  he  had  come  too  early  by  an  hour. 

"  Half-past  ten,  gentlemen,  was  the  order." 

"  Yes,  but  it's  not  half-past  ten.    Can't  be  more  than  naif-past  nine.'' 

"Beg  your  pardon,  gentlemen,  but  it's  half-past  ten  by  the  office  clock, 
and  by  the  watch  too." 

And  so  it  was,  but  not  by  the  watch  of  Col.  Roberts,  the  only  one  in  the 
room  as  it  happened  except  Capt.  Hale's ;  and  the  question  arose  whether 
the  trays  should  be  sent  out  again,  as  the  students  suggested;  but  Col. 
Roberts  thought  it  possible  that  his  watch  might  have  lost  time,  and  the 
committee  decided  that  the  examination  could  be  finished  after  the  refresh 
ments  were  disposed  of.  Seated  at  the  social  board  the  seniors  thawed  out 
very  readily,  and  entertained  us  with  stories  and  anecdotes  full  of  point  and 
humor  for  a  couple  of  hours,  but  forgot  to  resume  the  examination. 

Next  day  Col.  Roberts  with  much  earnestness  and  gravity  reported  to 
the  Court  that  his  brethren  of  the  committee  and  himself  had  never  exam 
ined  students  who  had  read  the  law  more  intelligently,  or  with  a  better 
appreciation  of  the  high  duties  of  the  noble  profession  to  which  they 
aspired,  than  the  four  young  gentlemen  then  in  the  presence  of  His  Honor ; 
— that  it  had  been  a  positive  pleasure  to  his  brethren  and  himself  to  find 
how  diligently  and  uuderstandingly  they  had  devoted  themselves  to  the 
task  of  acquiring  the  knowledge  essential  to  the  discharge  of  their  duties  as 
members  of  the  bar,  to  which  he  begged  leave  to  move  the  Court  that  they 
be  at  once  admitted ;  with  the  further  remark,  if  His  Honor  would  pardon 
him,  that  if  students  were  always  as  well  qualified  by  diligent  study  and 
just  appreciation  of  their  duties  as  these  had  proved  themselves  to  be,  ser 
vice  on  examining  committees  would  no  longer  be  regarded  as  an  irksome 
duty,  but  would  be  looked  forward  to  with  pleasurable  anticipations  by  the 
maturer  members  of  the  bar. 

No  students  were  ever  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Dauphin  county  with  more 
eclat  than  we,  and  in  good  truth  we  were  as  well  read  and  as  well  qualified 
to  practice  law  as  young  lawyers  generally  are ;  none  of  whom  are  really  fit 
to  be  trusted  with  anybody's  cause  until  they  have  had  experience  in  some 
body  else's.  A  lawyer's  apprentice  ought  to  have  an  opportunity  to  handle 
the  tools  of  the  trade  under  the  eye  of  his  master,  and  thus  acquire  skill  in 
practice  before  he  undertakes  to  carry  on  the  business  for  himself. 

Having  disposed  of  the  good  will  and  other  chattel  property  of  the  Intel 
ligencer,  I  put  up  a  sign, — Attorney  at  Law, — and  sat  during  the  winter  in  a 
dingy  office,  diligent  in  abstract  study,  and  waiting  for  business  that  seemed 
in  no  hurry  to  come.  The  ennui  that  besets  an  expectant  young  lawyer  was 
borne  with  what  patience  I  could  command,  but  the  tediousness  of  the  life 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  TEAKS.  155 

was  absolutely  toilsome.  Sammy  Wood's  guests  in  the  solitary  cells  of  that 
noted  stone  edifice  in  Philadelphia,  the  Eastern  Penitentiary,  had  in  their 
separate  confinement  almost  as  cheerful  a  life  as  I  in  my  lawyer-den. 
Many  successful  jurists  have  endured  this  probation,  which  is  at  times 
intolerably  depressing;  and  I  had  not  only  the  heart-sickness  of  hope 
deferred  to  bear,  but  in  addition  the  torture  of  self-distrust.  The  young 
lawyers  waiting  for  their  first  cases  have  ever  since  had  my  sympathy,  but 
they  do  not  in  general  suffer  from  self-depreciation ;  w^hile  so  diffident  was  I 
of  my  own  capacity,  so  absurdly  modest  in  my  estimate  of  myself,  and 
therefore  so  positively  unsuited  for  the  profession,  that  if  a  client  had  actu 
ally  come  I  should  have  been  scared,  and  might  possibly  have  escaped  out 
of  the  back  door  while  he  entered  the  front.  But  weeks  and  weeks  went 
by,  and  yet  no  client  to  scare  me,  when  who  should  appear  but  my  brother, 
David  Stewart  Elliott,  on  a  visit.  We  talked  over  the  prospect,  he  as  confi 
dent  as  Micawber  (not  then  however  known  to  us)  and  as  sanguine  as  Mul 
berry  Sellers  of  later  years,  but  I  was  in  gloomy  mood,  and  after  some  rather 
serious  references  to  financial  matters  and  urgent  needs,  exclaimed  with 
much  honesty  and  a  good  deal  of  warmth : 

"  Confound  it,  Davie,  I  know  no  law !" 

"  Necessity  never  does/'  he  quietly  replied,  and  followed  up  this  witty 
response — good  enough  for  the  British  classics — with  the  practical  ques 
tion — 

"Why  don't  you  go  to  Washington  and  get  an  office?" 

"Well,"  I  replied,  "I've  always  liked  to  say,  with  Judge  Burnside, 
'  thank  Heaven  I'm  above  office,'  and  I'd  like  to  feel  so  yet." 

"  All  stuff!  Judge  Burnside  is  well  off  and  can  talk  big  if  he  wants  to; 
but  that  don't  suit  you.  Captain  Tyler  '11  give  you  an  office  if  you  ask 
him." 

Perhaps  he  would  ;  but  what  a  lower  depth  !  Yet,  after  all,  as  I  pond 
ered  on  it — why  not?  Clients  might  come  too  slowly  ;  and  you  can't  hurry 
them  or  drive  them  in.  You  can't  stand  at  the  door  as  if  you  kept  an  old 
do'  shop,  and  hail  them  with  old  law  *  as  good  as  new,  and  cheaper  as  any 
in  town;'  for  the  Profession  had  then  so  much  dignity  it  hardly  tolerated  an 
advertisement  in  the  newspaper.  Then  why  not  come  down  to  an  *  office?7 
— I  might  as  well  try  Washington  for  a  while.  The  sheriff  of  Dauphin 
county,  vigorous  officer  that  he  was,  had  everything  going  on  right  for  the 
sale  in  due  time  of  the  Intelligencer  Block — four  stories  and  basement,  cast- 
iron  sills  and  lintels,  and  zinc  roof— and  I  could  come  back  some  future  day 
and  look  at  it  with  pride  as  one  of  the  best  buildings  in  town,  and  partly 
my  own  creation. 

Having  lost  heavily  by  an  honest  and  unselfish  support  of  Mr.  Tyler's 
administration,  I  had  'claims;'  but  for  many  reasons,  and  among  them  its 
uncertain  tenure,  I  had  no  inclination  for  office.  Intelligent  gentlemen 
held  clerkships  at  Washington,  and  led  what  appeared  like  easy  lives,  with 
ample  time  for  intellectual  and  social  pleasures ;  but  few  if  any  ever  laid  up 


156  KOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

a  dollar ;  and  each  might  at  any  moment  be  thrown  on  the  world,  with  no 
profession  or  business,  and  perhaps  unfitted  by  office  life  to  enter  upon  any. 
To  saunter  up  to  a  pleasant  room  and  go  through  the  forms  of  work  a  few 
hours  each  day,  was  a  very  nice  life  even  on  moderate  pay ;  but  the  failure 
of  an  appropriation,  a  whim  of  the  appointing  power,  or  that  fearful 
calamity — a  change  of  party  in  the  administration — might  wither  a  livli- 
hood  as  suddenly  as  Jonah's  gourd.  If  a  man  could  live  at  anything  else,  I 
had  always  thought,  let  him  not  take  office  at  Washington.  I  had  hoped 
never  to  be  brought  to  a  fate  so  full  of  deteriorating  ease  and  inevitable 
hazard. 

The  faithful  and  competent  of  the  clerks  at  Washington  have  a  hard  life. 
There  is  no  appreciation  of  their  labors.  The  more  ably  a  clerk  prepares 
papers  for  the  head  of  a  bureau  or  department  to  sign,  the  more  credit 
gained  by  the  head,  and  that  is  all.  No  one  ever  thinks  of  the  laborious 
and  perhaps  '  seedy '  gentleman  whose  full  and  fertile  mind  sheds  golden 
lustre  upon  his  chief  but  none  on  himself.  Even  the  able  and  instructive 
work  of  Joseph  Kimmo,  as  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  is  hardly  known 
or  I  fear  adequately  appreciated ;  and  I  think  he  has  in  past  years  written 
much  that  gave  others  repute,  but  in  which  he  was  never  known  at  all. 
The  same  routine  obtained  at  Washington  forty  years  ago.  Mr.  Potts  and 
Mr.  Mix  virtually  managed  the  Indian  Bureau,  under  Papa  Crawford,  and 
managed  judiciously  when  not  overruled  by  him ;  but  they  got  no  credit  if 
things  went  well,  and  did  not  escape  censure  if  they  went  ill. 

I  have  no  idea  how  much  practical  Christianity  there  is  among  the  clerks 
at  Washington  now,  but  there  must  have  been  a  goodly  share  of  it  in  old 
times,  as  in  all  my  experience  I  never  met  with  anything  but  courtesy  and 
proper  attention.  If  others  have  been  less  fortunate,  perhaps  they  were 
themselves  in  fault.  Always  treating  the  clerks  as  gentlemen,  they  always 
proved  themselves  such  to  me.  There  is  a  little  rule  that  ought  to  be 
regarded  as  the  essence  of  gentility :  always  do  to  others  as  you  would  have 
them  do  to  you. 

They  had  no  lady  clerks  at  Washington  when  I  was  reduced  to  think  of 
taking  office,  and  since  their  introduction  it  has  not  been  my  lot  to  have 
had  business  in  the  departments.  Hence  I  have  had  no  adeqaute  opportu 
nities  to  judge  how  well  they  perform  their  duties  ;  but  I  suppose  in  general 
as  well  as  the  gentlemen,  and  in  some  cases  better.  They  chew  less  tobacco 
and  read  fewer  newspapers,  and  unsound  as  the  opinion  may  seem,  I  think 
they  indulge  less  in  gossip  or  idle  talk.  This  is,  however,  a  wicked  world, 
and  while  ladies  are  clerks  in  the  departments,  there  will  be  more  or  less  of 
scandal.  Women  are  themselves  cruel  to  each  other,  and  on  slight  grounds 
will  look  with  evil  eye  on  their  sisters.  As  to  the  men — the  topic  needs  no 
discussion.  But  I  have  faith  in  the  natural  goodness  and  purity  of  women 
when  treated  with  due  respect.  It  is  very  rare  that  a  woman  is  leader  in 
wrong  doing  of  any  kind.  I  have  seen  a  great  deal  of  the  world,  but  have 
never  had  the  honor  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  Mrs.  Potiphar,  and  I  do 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN   SIXTY    5TEARS.  157 

not  think  she  is  a  clerk  at  Washington.  I  am  tolerably  sure  that  Joseph  is 
not  there. 

Arrived  in  Washington,  Mrs.  Turton,  the  lady  of  the  boarding  house, 
introduced  me  to  the  whole  table  at  dinner,  as  was  the  custom,  and  with  a 
general  bow  I  was  at  home.  All  very  polite:  Col.  G.  Worthington  Snethen, 
Mr.  Henry  Drayton,  the  ladies,  and  even  the  unshorn  and  threadbare  Pole, 
Polowogski,  who  wanted  to  lecture  on  China,  and  who,  when  he  could  get  a 
chance,  would  give  us  in  broken  English  and  uncouth  accent  all  the  points 
against  Christianity  that  Thomas  Paine  has  in  his  Age  of  Reason,  and  which 
have  since  been  paraded  in  more  elegant  phrase  by  Col.  Robert  G.  Inger- 
soll.  Very  polite  and  friendly  all,  and  contrasting  broadly  with  the  modern 
restaurant  fashion  of  Washington  boarding  houses,  where  they  have  sepa 
rate  tables  and  a  lot  of  little  dishes,  from  which  the  solitary  stranger  picks 
up  a  meal  as  best  he  can,  and  lives  up  t*  Dr.  Tanner's  rule  not  to  weary  the 
stomach  by  overloading. 

All  polite,  social,  interesting.  Had  I  just  arrived  in  the  city  ?  Yes — 
just  in  on  morning  train.  Was  it  my  first  visit  to  Washington?  By  no 
means — had  often  been  in  the  city,  and  liked  it  much.  Did  I  contemplate  a 
long  visit?  Could  not  tell ;  it  depended  on  the  appointing  power,  and  that 
is  sometimes  uncertain.  Ah — yes — was  I  taking  part  in  the  political  move 
ments  ?  Not  much — was  rather  tired  of  party  squabbles ;  had  suffered  seri 
ous  losses,  and  as  a  last  resort,  concluded  to  take  office.  Ah  !— yes. 

They  were  intensely  amused.  The  idea  of  any  one  coming  there  to  take 
office,  as  if  it  was  a  matter  of  course  to  get  it,  was  irresistibly  funny,  and 
sorely  tried  their  good  breeding.  Some  of  them  had  been  applying  for 
months,  and  had  not  succeeded.  A  hearty  laugh  would  have  done  them 
infinite  good,  but  politeness  forbade.  They  quietly  and  furtively  smiled  to 
each  other,  and  actually  enjoyed  my  fresh  presence  among  them,  as  much 
as  they  could  a  basket  of  roses  in  January.  It  seemed  so  innocent  in  me  to 
expect  just  to  put  out  my  ungloved  hand  and  pluck  the  tempting  and  golden 
fruit,  so  long  beyond  their  reach  even  on  tip-toe,  and  it  did  me  good  to 
afford  them  the  pleasure  of  a  novel  sensation  so  easily.  As  a  rare  visitor  I 
ranked  next  to  the  comet. 

In  the  evening  I  called  at  the  White  House.  The  President '  received r 
informally  then  every  evening,  there  not  being  so  many  people  to  crowd  in 
as  we  have  now ;  but  of  course  it  was  not  etiquette  on  such  occasions  to  talk 
of  appointments,  unless  the  topic  was  introduced  by  him.  He  was  very 
kind  in  his  inquiries  about  my  health,  which  I  assured  him  was  excellent, 
and  hoped  would  not  suffer  if  he  should  detain  me  in  Washington.  He 
asked  me  if  I  intended  to  transfer  my  editorial  labors  to  the  capital,  where 
upon  I  told  him  as  pleasantly  as  I  could  that  they  had  come  to  a  compulsory 
halt,  through  the  bitter  hostility  of  his  enemies ;  but  added  rather  heroi 
cally  that  I  would  '  rather  be  poor  and  honest  than  rich  and  false  to  prin 
ciple.' 


158  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

"  My  dear  sir,"  said  the  President,  "if  you  care  to  serve  the  government 
in  office,  just  find  a  vacant  place  and  I  will  see  that  you  go  into  it." 

This  was  very  satisfactory.  At  breakfast  next  morning  I  mentioned 
that  I  would  like  to  find  a  vacancy  in  some  department,  as  I  felt  sure  I 
could  get  into  it ;  but  none  knew  of  any,  and  seemed  rather  to  doubt  that 
they  ever  existed.  They  had  been  looking  for  vacancies  to  be  filled  by 
themselves.  By  9  o'clock  I  was  on  a  still  hunt  through  the  departments, 
and  happened  on  an  old  friend,  a  clerk  in  the  Third  Auditor's  bureau,  who 
knew  of  a  place  in  it  to  be  vacated  on  the  ensuing  first  of  April.  I  went  at 
once  to  the  White  House  and  by  12  o'clock  had  a  written  order  from  the 
President  to  Mr.  Peter  Hagner,  Third  Auditor  of  the  Treasury,  to  put  me 
into  the  place  designated.  Before  2  o'clock  all  was  settled,  and  I  was 
changed  from  a  briefless  lawyer  into  a  prospective  'officeholder'  at  twelve 
hundred  dollars  a  year. 

Amazement  and  a  shade  of  incredulity  sat  on  all  faces  at  dinner,  when 
in  response  to  polite  inquiries  as  to  how  I  was  getting  on,  I  told  them  mat 
ters  were  arranged  for  a  little  twelve  hundred  dollar  place  in  the  Treasury. 
Even  kindly  Mrs.  Turton  looked  as  if  she  feared  I  was  drawing  the  long 
bow,  and  the  Pole,  Polowogski,  said — "I  must  dinks  dot  is  fast  worrick  !" 
looking  at  the  others  as  if  he  did  not  quite  credit  the  tale.  Col.  Snethen 
and  Mr.  Dray  ton,  with  their  usual  politeness,  tendered  congratulations,  and 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jones  hinted  that  they  would  esteem  it  a  great  favor  if  I 
would  aid  them  in  their  search  for  a  berth,  as  they  had  been  six  months 
looking  for  some  one's  shoes  that  Mr.  J.  might  step  into.  But  upon  the 
whole  I  thought  the  boarders  did  not  seem  quite  so  much  amused  as  when 
I  first  came  and  stated  my  willingness  to  take  office. 

St.  Patrick's  Day  (1843)  gave  us  fifteen  inches  of  snow,  due  possibly  to 
the  long-tailed  comet  then  on  exhibition  free  of  charge,  as  the  heavenly 
wonders  always  are.  I  sat  quietly  indoors,  wrote  letters,  read  a  novel,  and 
listened  to  Mr.  Drayton's  music.  But  I  was  not  happy,  as  I  did  not  like 
the  prospect  of  a  clerk's  life  in  Washington,  with  all  its  temptations  and 
uncertainties.  Next  day  I  called  on  my  old  friend,  Mr.  Potts,  chief  clerk  of 
the  Indian  Bureau,  and  inquired  if  there  was  any  part  of  the  Indian  rack 
where  one  could  get  a  nibble  of  treasury  fodder. 

"Not  a  place  vacant,"  replied  my  good  friend,  "except  a  little  sub- 
agency  at  Council  Bluffs,  $750  salary." 

"What  is  a  sub-agency,  Mr.  Potts?" 

"  An  agency,  except  in  title,  salary,  and  mode  of  appointment.  Same 
duties  as  those  of  an  Agent,  who  gets  $1,500.  The  Council  Bluffs  sub- 
agency  is  east  of  the  Missouri  river,  and  disburse^  over  $40,000  a  year.  The 
bond  is  $20,000.  The  Secretary  of  War  appoints  the  sub-agents— the  Presi 
dent  appoints  the  agents." 

"Why  called  '  sub  '  if  not  under  an  agent  ?" 

"  My  dear  fellow,  you  must  ask  the  gentlemen  who  make  the  laws.  We 
only  execute  them." 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  159 

"Mr.  Potts,  ought  I  to  take  this  sub-agency  instead  of  a  clerkship  here 
at  $1,200?" 

"With  my  experience,  if  I  were  you— yes.  It  may  lead  to  something. 
A  clerkship  here  seldom  leads  to  anything  but  disaster — or  the  grave."  * 

I  decided  to  'go  west.'    I  had  a  vague  idea  that  something  might  come 
of  it. 

James  M.  Porter,  a  democrat  of  distinction,  who  had  been  judge  at  Har~ 
risburg,  and  had  been  abused  in  the  Intelligencer  as  soundly  as  his  brother, 
the  Governor,  had  recently  come  in  as  Secretary  of  War,  under  Mr.  Tyler's 
plan  of  conciliating  and  attracting  the  democracy.  When  I  called  on  him 
we  smiled  as  we  shook  hands,  and  the  Secretary  laughed  outright  when  I 
alluded  to  the  strange  conjunction  of  him  and  myself  there  at  Washington 
in  the  same  political  camp.  True,  the  Tyler  party  was  a  rather  small  party, 
but  all  the  more  funny  that  Judge  Porter  should  be  in  it.  But  he  was  a 
man  of  fine  talents,  and  of  a  practical  turn,  and  came  down  to  business  at 
once. 

"  Well,  now,  what  can  I  do  for  you?"  he  inquired. 

"Not  much,  Mr.  Secretary.  I  am  for  the  Indian  service,  and  there  is 
only  one  little  hole  to  creep  in  at." 

"Have  I  the  appointment?" 

"  You  have,  sir,  and  I  wish  it  was  a  bigger  opening." 

II  Well,  whatever  it  is,  I'll  have  the  commission  made  out  at  once,  if  you 
say  so.    But  call  and  see  me  again  before  you  leave." 

When  we  were  all  again  at  dinner  in  a  family  way,  so  much  more  social 
than  present  arrangements,  I  remarked  that  I  had  decided,  after  all,  to 
decline  that  place  in  Mr.  Hagner's  bureau. 

"So?"  inquired  the  Pole. 

"Indeed?"  from  Col.  Sneth'en. 

" Possible ?— nothing  wrong  I  hope,"  from  good  Mrs.  Turton. 

"  Well,  I  don't  altogether  like  it.  If  I  go  into  office  here  I'll  never  be  fit 
for  anything  else.  I've  decided  not  to  take  the  place." 

Positive  incredulity  struggled  with  politeness  in  every  face.  Their  looks 
said  I  had  been  romancing,  and  had  never  had  a  promise  of  the  $1,200  clerk 
ship  at  all.  Still,  it  might  have  been,  and  they  inquired  who  was  to  wear 
the  shoes  when  vacant.  I  did  not  know ;  had  not  yet  notified  Mr.  Hagner 
or  the  President  that  I  declined.  Who  would  I  recommend?  No  one; 
could  not  take  so  great  a  liberty ;  and  besides,  if  I  pushed  away  the  pap 
from  myself,  it  was  not  likely  the  authorities  would  let  me  dictate  who 
should  hold  the  spoon. 

It  was  abnormal  conduct,  to  refuse  even  a  twelve  hundred  dollar  clerk 
ship  ;  and  n^ver  having  been  done  before,  they  could  not  understand  it. 
Polowogski  said  he  would  rather  be  '  dot  clarrick  '  than  '  make  lecture  on 
China.'  Col.  Snethen  inquired  if  I  intended  to  resume  editorial  labor? 

"  By  no  means.  I'll  go  to  the  far  west,  I  believe.  I've  accepted  a  com 
mission  in  the  Indian  service." 


160  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEAKS. 

Oh ! — ah ! — But  I  think  they  were  relieved  somewhat  in  learning  that  a 
reckless  young  fellow,  who  could  decline  one  office,  when  offices  were  so 
scarce,  and  pick  up  another  in  the  same  day,  would  soon  leave  the  city.  It 
was  too  tantalizing  to  have  a  chap  like  that  in  the  house.  They  were  still, 
however,  polite  and  pleasant  as  usual,  and  as  the  snow  had  gone  off  rapidly 
we  all  went  up  after  dark  to  the  corner  of  the  President's  grounds  to  lean 
on  the  board  fence  and  look  at  the  comet  and  its  wonderful  tail. 

A  salary  of  $750 ;  annual  disbursements  over  $40,000  cash ;  a  bond  of 
$20,000.  Such  was  the  consistency  of  the  Indian  bureau.  It  looked  as  if  an 
1  Indian  Sub-agent '  was  expected  to  steal  enough  in  some  way  to  make  his 
pay  correspond  to  his  responsibilities.  I  note  these  matters  as  among  the 
numerous  absurdities  which  used  to  distinguish  the  Indian  bureau.  But 
the  bond  must  be  given,  and  I  at  once  wrote  to  Pennsylvania  and  had  it 
arranged.  Here  I  might  stop,  but  having  written  to  one  gentleman  upon 
whom  1  had  no  claim  whatever,  personal  or  political,  I  wish  to  note  his 
answer,  as  an  instance  of  disinterested  kindness,  which,  though  not  availed 
of,  has  never  been  forgotten.  He  replied  that  he  was  on  many  bonds,  and 
had  lost  heavily  by  'going  bail,'  as  it  was  styled  in  Pennsylvania,  and  said 
frankly  that  he  would  rather  not  incur  any  new  responsibilities  ;  but  con 
cluded  a  long  and  friendly  letter,  which  I  have  yet,  with  the  sentence :  "  If 
you  determine  on  reflection  to  accept  the  post,  and  my  name  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  enable  you  to  retain  it,  I  will  go  on  the  bond."  The  man  who 
thus  wrote,  from  unselfish  generosity  and  kindness,  seeking  no  return,  was 
General  Simon  Cameron.  To  state  the  facts  is  eulogy  enough.  It  was  by 
such  helpful  acts  that  General  Cameron  acquired  his  large  influence  in 
Pennsylvania.  How  often  those  he  befriended  were  ungrateful  is  not 
known,  but  in  many  cases  it  was  proved  that  gratitude  is  not  always  what 
the  cynic  styled  it — '  a  lively  sense  of  favors  to  be  received.' 

The  whole  system  of  requiring  personal  sureties  to  back  the  integrity  of 
a  public  officer  is  wrong.  A  default  brings  ruin  or  embarrassment  to  the 
generous,  kind-hearted  friends  of  the  defaulter.  Better  that  the  entire  com 
munity  should  bear  the  loss  than  a  few  large-hearted  men.  Punish  the 
derelict  officer  severely  enough,  and  fear  of  punishment  may  be  a  restraint 
in  cases  where  honor  might  fail.  Many  good  and  competent  men  are  now 
debarred  from  offices  they  would  worthily  fill,  because  they  cannot  or  will 
not  try  to  give  the  required  bond.  Or  let  the  government  compel  the  custo 
dians  of  its  moneys  or  property  to  pay  the  premium  for  the  assurance  of 
their  fidelity  in  the  mode  now  adopted  by  some  of  the  railroad  companies 
and  banks. 

My  bond  filed  and  commission  in  hand,  I  was  ready  to  leave  Washing 
ton,  and  at  dinner  an  early  departure  was  announced.  All  p,t  the  table 
politely  expressed  their  concern  at  the  loss  of  my  society,  but  I  doubted  if 
any  but  Mrs.  Turton  and  the  seedy  Pole  felt  much  if  any  regret.  Neither 
of  those  wanted  office,  and  my  preposterous  conduct  in  playing  with  ap 
pointments  as  if  they  were  pawns  on  a  chessboard,  to  be  taken  or  not  at 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  161 

pleasure,  did  not  reflect  on  their  ill  success,  as  it  did  perhaps  on  that  of  Mr. 
Jones  and  others.  Besides,  Polowogski  was  a  'poor  devil,'  as  the  phrase 
goes,  and  had  a  sort  of  spaniel  regard  for  me,  as  I  had  strained  a  point  to  be 
civil  to  him,  although  his  views  on  religious  subjects  were  not  agreeable. 
He  seemed  grateful  for  courtesy  that  cost  me  little,  but  his  unorthodox 
arguments  left  me  in  the  condition  of  a  well-raised  citizen,  for  Col.  Ingersoll 
to  try  his  hand  on  forty  years  later  if  he  should  ever  feel  like  it.  Mrs.  Tur- 
ton's  regret  arose  partly  from  that  genuine  kindness  of  which  good  women 
are  always  capable,  and  partly  from  her  interest  as  one  of  a  class  whose  lot 
in  life  is  never  too  happy.  I  was  a  paying  boarder,  and  such  were  always 
valued  (where  so  many  were  apt  to  be  waiting  for  office  J  in  the  delightful 
temporary  homes  we  had  in  old  times  at  Washington. 

When  I  called  in  the  evening  to  take  leave  of  the  President  I  found  him 
in  a  serene  and  happy  mood,  and  even  his  two  sons,  Eobert  and  John, 
seemed  to  have  laid  aside  for  the  moment  the  load  of  responsibility  gener 
ally  borne  by  them.  Several  old  friends  of  Mr.  Tyler  were  in  the  room,  and 
they  had  been  enjoying  anecdotes  and  reminiscences  of  less  anxious  days. 
Having  stated  that  I  had  called  to  bid  him  adieu — 

"Why,  how  is  this?"  he  responded.  "My  order  to  Mr.  Hagner  was 
positive." 

•'  So  it  was,  Mr.  President,  and  properly  honored ;  but  I  found  a  vacant 
place  in  the  west  under  the  Indian  Bureau,  and  preferred  that  to  a  position 
here." 

"  You  have  decided  wisely,  however  well  pleased  we  should  have  been  to 
have  you  remain  here.  The  west  is  better  than  Washington  for  a  man  at 
your  age,  and  you  have  my  best  wishes.'' 

"Ah,  yes,"  said  Judge  Rowan,  of  Kentucky,  u  you  may  possibly  settle 
in  St.  Louis.  It  is  a  fine  place — a  place  with  a  great  future." 

And  then  he  took  snuff  from  a  silver  box,  and  gave  me  some,  which 
made  me  sneeze,  although,  even  then,  St.  Louis  was  by  no  means  '  a  place 
to  be  sneezed  at.' 

I  never  saw  the  good-hearted,  well-meaning,  cordial  John  Tyler  again. 
He  has  passed  into  history,  and  his  weaknesses  are  forgotten.  Let  him  be 
thought  of  only  as  a  sincere  well-wisher  of  his  country.  His  administra 
tion  brought  no  evils  on  it.  If  it  had  only  Fremont's  explorations  to  be 
remembered  by,  it  should  have  at  least  one  white  stone.  I  have  been 
assured  that  if  Mr.  Tyler's  time  had  lasted  a  few  weeks  longer,  an  inchoate 
treaty  with  Mexico  would  have  been  completed,  and  the  war  averted. 

In  all  Washington  City  I  could  find  no  one  to  tell  me  how  I  could  get  to 
Council  Bluffs.  The  Indian  Bureau  only  knew  that  once  a  year  the  steam 
boat  of  the  Fur  Company  went  up  the  Missouri,  and  came  down  again,  but 
it  would  be  gone  before  rny  arrival  at  St.  Louis.  The  map  had  a  dot  marked 
'Lexington'  on  the  river— the  most  westerly  point  named,  and  I  concluded 
there  would  be  a  steamboat  to  that  place  at  least,  and  thence  I  would  get 
up  by  some  means  or  other.  St.  Louis  must  be  rather  a  smart  place,  no 


1G2  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

doubt.  We  had  exchanged  with  the  Missouri  Republican — quite  a  respect 
able  paper,  we  thought,  for  a  place  so  far  out  of  the  world.  At  length  I  fell 
in  with  Dr.  Silas  Reed,  Surveyor  General  of  Missouri,  who  assured  me  that 
St.  Louis  was  *  a  wonderful  city,  growing  very  rapidly,  and  destined  to  be 
the  starting  point  of  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  ocean.'  But  who  could  credit 
these  western  men,  whose  views  always  seemed  to  us  in  the  east  so  bold  and 
extravagant?  From  their  talk  one  might  suppose  they  were  the  metropoli 
tans,  and  we  the  provincials.  Dr.  Reed  told  me  I  could  get  up  the  Missouri 
by  steamboats  in  regular  trade  far  away  above  Lexington,  and  probably  all 
the  way  to  my  sub-agency  ;  but  I  was  on  my  guard  against  exaggeration, 
and  the  most  I  could  believe  was  that  I  might  possibly  get  to  Fort  Leaven- 
worth.  Kansas  City  will  hardly  credit  me,  but  she  was  really  not  thought 
of  forty  years  ago.  Independence  and  Westport  were  small  towns,  in  the 
exact  geographical  centre  of  the  United  States,  according  to  Gilpin. 

"Is  everything  satisfactory?"  inquired  Judge  Porter,  when  I  called  to 
say  farewell. 

11  Perfectly,  Mr.  Secretary.    I  start  for  the  west  to-morrow." 

"Too  impatient.  Something  better  would  have  opened  up  if  you  had 
waited." 

"Could  not  do  it,  sir.  The  Washington  atmosphere  is  too  heavy  with 
anxieties  of  the  needy.  It  seemed  uncharitable  to  stand  in  their  way.  One 
feels  more  like  a  Christian,  taking  a  place  nobody  else  wants." 

We  parted,  never  to  meet  again.  Judge  Porter  was  an  able  man,  but 
went  to  Washington  too  late  to  become  widely  known.  He  would  now  be 
forgotten  but  for  Mrs.  Jesse  Benton  Fremont.  When,  in  1843,  Fremont 
started  on  his  second  expedition,  his  wife  remained  in  St.  Louis  and  for 
warded  his  letters..  An  order  came  from  the  Secretary  of  War  directing 
Fremont  not  to  take  with  him  a  howitzer  from  Fort  Leavenworth,  but 
Jesse  thought  such  an  order  would  do  more  good  in  her  desk  than  in  the 
hands  of  John  C.,  and  it  did  not  get  beyond  St.  Louis.  The  explorer  took 
his  gun. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  163 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

AN  AUCTION  —  A  TITLE — DOWN  THE  OHIO  —  CINCINNATI,  THE  QUEEN  CITY  — 
HER  OBSERVATORY  — A  LITTLE  MOON  STORY  — OLD  FASHION  IN  LIGHTS  — 
THE  SWEET  SINGERS  —  ST.  LOUIS  AND  MISSOURI  IN  1843  —  COL.  MITCHELL 

—  INDIAN  TRADE  —  CHOUTEAU,   SIRE,   SARPY,  WALSH,   CAMPBELL,  MACKEN 
ZIE —  STEAMER  JOHN  AULL,  JOHN  J.  ROE,  MASTER  —  AN  ABLE  DELEGATION 

—  COLLIER  FACTORY  —  COL.  RICHESON  —  BEANS  —  E.  M.  SAMUEL  AND  OTHER 
PROMINENT  MISSOURIANS  — A  RAILROAD  TALKED  OF  — HEMP  AND  TOBACCO 
TOWNS  —  BLACKSNAKE    HILLS— MONSIEUR    JOSEPH    ROBIDOUX  — THE    NEW 
TOWN  NAMED  SAINT  JOSEPH. 

Going— going-g — once,  twice,  three-e-e — GONE  ! 

This  was  the  peroration  of  Peter  Wonderly's  speech,  as  Sheriff's  auc 
tioneer  in  Harris  burg.  He  had  orated  about  the  Intelligencer  Block — four 
stories  and  basement — cast-iron  sills  and  lintels— and  zinc  roof.  It  was 
'gone,'  he  said;  but  on  my  return  from  Washington,  a  public  officer,  there 
it  stood,  a  monument  of  enterprise,  lost  through  political  honesty,  and 
probably  the  only  edifice  ever  lost  in  that  way.  Like  the  Tower  of  Babel, 
it's  fate  was  exceptional.  But  I  had  little  time  to  indulge  the  pride  of 
having  aided  to  get  up  one  of  the  best  buildings  in  the  borough,  as  I  must 
hasten  westward,  expanded  as  I  was  already  in  anticipation  of  what  Bryant 
calls — 

"  The  gardens  of  the  desert,  the  unshorn  fields, 

Boundless  yet  beautiful,  for  which  the  speech  of  England  hath  no  name 

The  prairies." 

and  soon  everything  was  arranged  but  my  title.  There  was  but  one  way  to 
fix  this,  and  I  called  on  Governor  Porter. 

"  Going  west,  I  understand  ?"  he  remarked. 

"  Yes,  Your  Excellency,"  I  replied,  using  the  address  of  those  polite  old 
times.  "  I  thought  it  better  than  life  in  Washington." 

"Great  country,  sir.  Not  at  all  understood  among  our  people;  but  if 
they  knew  what  opportunities  it  presents  to  industry  and  enterprise,  too 
many  might  be  tempted  to  emigrate." 

"  The  Pennsylvanians  are  a  home-loving  people,  Your  Excellency.  I 
leave  with  regret,  but  may  gain  by  the  step." 


164  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEAKS. 

"  No  doubt  you  will ;  but  can  I  aid  you  in  any  way?" 

"Only  by  a  Commission,  Your  Excellency.  Out  west  men  are  apt  to 
address  each  other  as  Captain,  Major,  or  Colonel,  and  I  would  like  to  have 
a  right  to  my  title." 

11  Well,  you  shall  have  it.     I'll  commission  you  as  my  Aid-de-Camp." 

This  serious  matter  was  settled.  The  Secretary  was  to  mail  the  commis 
sion  to  Lewistown,  where  I  would  stop  a  day  for  farewells.  Two  days 
later,  as  we  were  all  at  the  canal  lock  to  greet  the  packet,  who  should  be  on 
the  deck  but  the  Governor  himself. 

"Good  morning,  Colonel,"  he  said,  as  I  approached  to  salute  him,  and 
added  in  undertones,  u  the  commission  is  in  the  mail." 

But  the  honor  of  my  position  as  Governor's  Aid  did  not  appear  to  be 
rated  very  highly,  as  Tyler  men,  however  politically  honest,  were  supposed 
to  be  rather  scampish.  It  was  the  same  sort  of  feeling  that  even  insulted 
Webster  in  New  England,  because  he  refused  to  follow  Mr.  Clay's  lead  in 
hostility  to  Tyler's  administration,  on  account  of  the  bank  veto. 

On  the  canal  to  Hollidaysburg,  then  over  the  Alleghenies  on  the  Port 
age  Railroad,  and  I  was  soon  again  in  Pittsburgh ;  but  not,  as  six  years 
before,  a  wandering  printer  seeking  a  '  situation.'  I  was  now  an  officer  of 
the  United  States,  and  a  Colonel  of  the  State,  bearing  my  blushing  honors 
modestly. 

How  delightful  was  the  voyage  down  the  Ohio  compared  with  the  deck 
passage  as  a  Texas  emigrant  in  1837!  The  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  were 
both  in  flood,  and  in  six  days  we  had  paddled  1,200  miles  from  Pittsburgh 
to  St.  Louis ;  a  very  rapid  passage  then,  though  we  think  one  day  a  long 
time  for  the  passage  by  rail  now.  We  made  a  stop,  too,  at  Cincinnati,  where 
some  of  the  passengers  went  to  Walnut  Hills,  then  forest  I  believe ;  but  I 
do  not  remember  much  of  the  *  Queen  City,'  as  she  then  with  reason  called 
herself.  Her  population  of  46,388  in  1840  grew  to  115,436  in  I860,  when  she 
was  '  the  largest  inland  city  in  the  United  States,'  and  in  the  number  of  her 
people  was  only  excelled  by  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore 
and  New  Orleans.  Necessarily,  in  1843  she  was  doing  an  immense  busi 
ness  ;  killing  more  hogs  than  any  other  city  in  the  world.  Chicago  is  now 
the  chief  swine  city,  and  has  robbed  Cincinnati  of  her  prestige,  but  cannot 
rob  her  of  her  astronomical  repute,  as  the  first  city  in  the  United  States  to 
establish  an  Observatory.  The  labors  of  Prof.  O.  M.  Mitchell  in  astronomi 
cal  science  have  shed  lustre  011  the  name  of  Cincinnati.  But  even  in  mat 
ters  as  grave  as  the  study  of  the  stars  and  planets,  one  must  guard  against 
the  vagaries  of  fancy,  and  I  have  never  been  able  to  credit  the  report  of 
discoveries  in  the  moon  by  the  Cincinnati  telescope,  as  given  by  the  St. 
Louis  Reveille  in  1845,  in  a  letter  from  Cincinnati : 

"  It  is  very  well  known  to  all  that  the  Lunarians  have  very  long  nights, 
corresponding  in  length  to  what  we  call  the  dark  of  the  moon.  There  must 
necessarily  be  great  demand  for  lamps,  and  nature  seems  to  have  well  pro 
vided  for  this  in  the  abundance  of  that  valuable  animal,  the  hog.  They 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  165 

appear  to  have  discovered  the  art  of  converting  the  entire  hog  into  some 
such  inflammable  material  as  stearine;  for  along  the  dark  edges  of  the 
moon,  as  it  begins  to  show  itself,  the  whole  hog  can  frequently  be  seen, 
stuck  up  on  end,  resting  on  his  nose  and  fore  feet,  and  made  to  burn  by 
lighting  his  tail;  evidently  intended  for  something  like  our  street  lamps." 

When  this  fling  at  Cincinnati's  Observatory  (imitated  from  Locke's 
moon  hoax)  was  made,  lard  oil  was  in  common  use  for  lamps,  having  super 
seded  sperm  oil.  An  alcoholic  preparation  called  spirit  gas  was  manufac 
tured  in  St.  Louis  by  Stephen  Ridgley,  to  be  burnt  in  lamps,  with  tin  tubes 
for  wicks  two  inches  long.  This  fluid  was  superseded  by  veritable  coal  oil, 
distilled  from  bituminous  coal,  and  the  coal  oil  has  been  superseded  by  the 
petroleum  provided  by  nature.  Sixty  years  ago,  each  family  in  Pennsylva 
nia  made  its  own  tallow  candles,  and  spermaceti  candles  were  also  used 
sparingly.  Stearine  candles,  made  in  factories,  succeeded  those  of  tallow. 
Flat  iron  lamps,  holding  lard,  with  a  cotton  or  tow  wick  at  one  end,  were  in 
common  use  in  kitchens,  and  many  a  school  boy  studied  his  lesson  by  their 
light  during  President  Jackson's  administration.  From  this  iron  lamp, 
very  like  those  used  by  the  old  Romans,  up  to  the  electric  lights,  is  a  long 
step,  but  nothing  in  art  or  science  is  surprising  now.  If  we  can  store  up 
electricity  for  use  when  wanted,  we  need  only  to  utilize  the  winds  or  waters 
to  store  up  elastic  force  for  our  engines,  in  order  to  illuminate  every  place. 
Sticking  types  in  a  printing  office  with  tallow  candles,  fifty  years  ago, 
seems  now  almost  incredible,  even  to  those  who  did  it. 

Very  little  do  I  remember  of  that  speedy  voyage  from  Pittsburgh  to  St. 
Louis.  I  have  only  the  general  memory  of  rapid  progress,  constant  enjoy 
ment  of  novel  scenes,  the  majestic  rivers,— and  the  sweet  singers.  These 
were  two  young  ladies  from  New  England,  Miss  Caroline  and  Miss  Emeline 
Frisbee,  who  with  their  brother  Joseph  were  on  their  way  to  join  relations 
in  Illinois.  How  delightfully  they  sang  and  how  pleasant  to  listen !  Addi- 
son's  noble  psalm,  beginning — 

"  The  spacious  firmament  on  high, 
And  all  the  blue  etherial  sky," 

as  rendered  by  them,  was  an  Oratorio  in  itself ;  and  the  song  of  the  bells— 

"Hark!  'tis  the  sound  of  the  village  bells! 
How  pleasantly— they  strike— on  the  ear— 
And  how  merrily  they  ring!" 

seems  yet  at  times  to  be  borne  in  faint  echoes  to  the  ear.  They  are  elderly 
ladies  now,  but  I  trust  their  hearts  are  young  enough  to  enjoy  their  own 
music — or  at  least  the  memory  of  it,  as  I  do. 

Arrived  at  St.  Louis  May  13,  1843, 1  found  myself  in  a  CITY,  just  of  age, 
having  been  raised  to  that  dignity  twenty-one  years  before  (1822)  when  her 
population  was  probably  about  2,000,  as  it  only  got  up  to  4,377  in  1830.  She 
grew  to  16,467  by  1840,  and  in  1843  had  probably  25,000  people,  as  she  rose  to 
77,680  by  1850.  The  entire  state  of  Missouri,  including  St.  Louis,  had  by  the 


166  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

census  of  1840  only  a  population  of  383,702,  but  was  rapidly  increasing.  The 
immigrants  were  mostly  from  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  and 
among  them  many  'Americans  of  African  descent,'  held  as  chattels,  but 
generally  as  happy  as  the  white  part  of  the  family,  and  often  as  well 
dressed. 

Col.  David  D.  Mitchell,  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  at  St.  Louis, 
received  me  cordially,  and  at  once  introduced  me  to  the  Fur  Company  (P. 
Chouteau,  jr.,  &  Co.),  Robert  Campbell,  Kenneth  Mackenzie,  and  Messrs. 
J.  and  E.  Walsh,  all  more  or  less  concerned  in  the  Indian  trade ;  and  we 
had  a  round  of  pleasant  visits.  The  Indian  trade  was  then  a  large  busi 
ness,  ramifying  through  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  I  found  the  gentlemen 
engaged  in  it  very  different  from  the  '  Indian  traders f  of  my  untutored 
fancy.  Pierre  Chouteau,  Joseph  A.  Sire,  John  B.  Sarpy,  Edward  Walsh, 
Robert  Campbell,  Kenneth  Mackenzie,  and  others  whom  I  met  for  the  first 
time,  were  all  gentlemen  of  that  exquisite  politeness  which  puts  a  stranger 
at  ease.  Ignorant  as  I  was  of  Indian  matters,  they  seemed  unconscious  of 
my  lack  of  knowledge,  and  in  a  few  hours  managed  to  convey  a  great  many 
facts  without  appearing  to  act  as  instructors.  I  was  very  grateful  for  their 
high  toned  courtesy. 

I  had  inquired  of  Col.  Mitchell  how  to  reach  my  pos-t  at  Council  Bluffs, 
and  the  reply  was— 

"  You  can  take  boat  to  Blacksnake  Hills,  and  from  there  you  will  easily 
get  a  wagon  for  baggage,  and  horses  if  you  like  the  saddle." 

"How  about  the  taverns  to  stop  at,  Colonel?" 

"My  dear  fellow — if  you  get  settlers'  cabins  to  sleep  in  you'll  do  well ; 
and  if  not,  you  can  lie  in  the  wagon  or  bivouac." 

I  soon  learned  that  Blacksnake  Hills  meant  Monsieur  Joseph  Robidoux's 
trading  post  away  above  Fort  Leaven  worth,  and  in  the  'Platte  Purchase,' 
of  which  I  then  heard  for  the  first  time.  It  seemed  all  a  new  world  to  me, 
but  if  I  might  judge  from  the  manners  of  the  St.  Louis  gentlemen,  not 
likely  to  be  an  unpleasant  one.  There  was,  however,  one  little  matter  that 
I  can  only  note  as  a  let-down.  I  was  '  Major '  everywhere !  That  was  the 
title  universally  given  by  courtesy  to  Indian  agents,  and  my  parchment 
and  broad  seal  title  of  Colonel,  conferred  so  graciously  by  the  Governor  of 
Pennsylvania,  was  ignored,  and  has  never  been  of  any  use  to  me  since. 

The  good  steamboat,  John  Aull,  whereof  John  J.  Roe,  was  Master, 
swung  off  and  started.  She  was  to  have  gone  two  days  before,  but  all  who 
were  in  St.  Louis  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  when  the  river  front  presented  a 
scene  of  activity  and  a  fleet  of  steamboats  elsewhere  unequalled,  can  tell 
you  that  a  start  on  the  advertised  day  often  meant  one  or  two  days  later. 
There  were  no  regular  '  Lines '  then.  Each  boat  was  an  independent 
cruiser,  and  it  was  better  economy  to  lie  in  port  and  feed  her  passengers 
than  to  paddle  off  on  a  long  voyage  with  less  than  a  full  cargo. 

Bravely  the  John  Aull  breasted  the  rapid  current  of  the  Missouri,  then 
in  flood,  and  in  a  week  we  were  at  the  end  of  her  voyage.  She  had  a  long 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  167 

hill  to  climb,  as  at  Blacksnake  Hills  we  were  nearly  three  hundred  feet 
higher  above  sea  level  than  at  St.  Louis,  the  slope  of  the  river  being  about 
eight  inches  to  the  mile.  But  Capt.  John  J.  Roe  had  grown  up  on  a  steam 
boat,  and  would  have  tried  the  John  Aull  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees 
if  necessary.  No  thought  then  of  pork-packing,  and  the  other  big  enter 
prises  in  which  he  was  at  a  later  date  so  conspicuous  and  so  useful,  till 
arrested  by  death  in  the  fulness  of  activity  and  business.  The  sudden 
cessation  of  life  was  regarded  as  due  to  one  of  those  decrees  of  Providence 
which  we  say  are  inscrutable ;  but  I  think  it  was  the  result  of  too  intense 
work  in  his  varied  affairs. 

Now  that  I  think  of  it,  I  once  lost  ten  dollars  by  Capt.  Roe  and  Col. 
Thomas  Richeson,  in  1868,  when  the  former  was  President  of  the  Merchants 
Exchange.  A  delegate  to  the  National  Board  of  Trade,  to  meet  for  organi 
zation  at  Philadelphia,  suddenly  announced  his  inability  to  attend.  At 
Col.  Richeson's  suggestion,  Capt.  Roe  called  on  me  to  fill  the  vacancy, 
which  I  agreed  to  do,  never  supposing  but  what  the  derelict  member  would 
pay  expenses — which  he  never  did.  The  jaunt  cost  me  $110,  but  I  had  $100 
worth  of  enjoyment.  The  delegation  consisted  of  Thomas  Allen,  George  P. 
Plant,  Henry  T.  Blow,  Adolphus  Meier,  E.  O.  Stanard,  and  myself— and 
leaving  myself  out,  I  think  an  abler  delegation  never  left  St.  Louis  for 
any  purpose.  The  Philadelphians,  with  hospitality  that  Royalty  never 
equaled,  took  tfhe  whole  Board  a  three  days'  excursion  through  the  coal 
region  of  Pennsylvania.  I  was  thus  only  loser  to  the  amount  of  $10,  and 
this  Col.  Richeson  will  no  doubt  pay,  when  I  call  on  him  at  the  White  Lead 
and  Oil  Works  of  the  Collier  Company  in  St.  Louis  ;  a  great  establishment, 
originated  long  years  ago  by  Dr.  Silas  Reed,  and  brought  to  fruition  by  that 
most  estimable  gentleman  and  thorough  business  man,  Henry  T.  Blow; 
taken  from  us  in  1875  in  the  prime  of  his  usefulness.  For  the  last  thirty 
years  under  the  management  of  Co!.  Richeson,  this  factory,  which  was  the 
first  of  its  kind  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  has  paid  more  money  to  west 
ern  farmers  and  lead  miners  than  any  other  one  concern,  has  grown  to 
immense  proportions,  but  the  complicated  business  moves  on  with  the  pre 
cision  of  an  Elgin  watch.  Col.  Richeson  puts  into  his  work  what  Father 
advised  me  to  put  into  my  old  Gazette,  '  brains,'  yet  has  found  time  to  serve 
the  public  as  President  of  the  Exchange,  and  in  positions  of  municipal  and 
financial  trust.  Still,  he  is  so  little  progressive  in  business  matters  that  he 
has  never  got  beyond  the  old  saw  that '  honesty  is  the  best  policy.' 

The  factory  now  gets  its  flaxseed  and  castor  beans  mostly  by  rail.  In 
old  times  these  were  dangerous  cargo  on  a  boat,  as  the  German  emigrant 
family  that  came  up  the  river  thirty  years  ago  could  testify ;  for  seeing  a 
torn  sack  of  nice-looking  beans,  they  innocently  put  a  fair  measure  of  them 
into  their  pot  of  soup,  and  soon  became  convinced  that  the  cholera  had 
broken  out  afresh.  The  old  folks  are  dead,  but  the  lessons  of  childhood  are 
lasting,  and  the  son  on  his  farm  in  Missouri  is  likely  to  reply,  if  any  one 


168  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

says  '  beans  '  to  him,  as  did  the  old  solder  of  the  regular  army  when  asked 
to  re-enlist — '  Not  another  (blank)  infernal  bean !' 

Among  the  John  Aull's  passengers  \vere  E.  M.  Samuel,  J.  T.  V.  Thomp 
son;  and  M.  Arthur,  very  prominent  citizens  of  Clay  county  ;  and  we  talked 
of  the  development  and  prospects  of  western  Missouri.  Listening  eagerly 
to  all  they  said,  I  soon  found  how  little  the  people  east  of  the  Alleghe- 
nies  then  knew  of  our  own  country.  Like  a  young  robin  with  its  mouth 
open  in  the  nest,  I  swallowed  everything,  and  soon  began  to  learn  some 
thing  of  what '  the  west '  really  was.  But  I  had  my  say  on  the  subject  of 
railroads,  and  advanced  the  opinion  that  the  time  would  come  when  a  rail 
road  would  be  built  from  St.  Louis  to  the  west  line  of  the  state.  They 
agreed  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  have,  as  navigation  of  the  Missouri  could 
not  go  on  in  winter  ;  but  we  all  thought  it  would  be  a  long  time  before  we 
should  see  the  railroad  built.  Only  eight  years  later  it  was  actually  begun ! 
The  gentlemen  If  have  named  did  much  to  promote  the  development  of 
western  Missouri.  The  commercial  house  of  E.  M.  Samuel  &  Sons  continues 
to  exist  in  St.  Louis  (composed  of  the  sons,  Webster  M.  and  Edward  E. 
Samuel),  and  sustains  the  high  character  attained  during  the  life  of  its 
founder. 

The  only  towns  I  remember  as  having  seen  on  that  first  trip  up  the  Mis 
souri  are  Lexington  and  Glasgow,  and  these  appear  in  memory  only  as 
sloping  clay  banks,  with  hogsheads  of  tobacco  and  bales  of  hemp,  and 
laughing  negroes  with  wagons  bringing  in  more.  Both  were  places  of  much 
active  business,  and  there  must  have  been  lots  of  merchandise  and  furni 
ture  of  immigants  put  off  from  the  numerous  boats  then  on  the  river;  but 
the  tobacco  and  hemp  were  new  things  to  a  raw  Pennsylvanian,  and  made 
an  enduring  impression.  If  I  wore  a  born  painter,  as  John  Landis  was,  I 
could  make  a  picture  that  would  do  for  both  of  the  old  hemp  and  tobacco 
towns.  Missouri  was  then  profiting  largely  by  the  full-handed  immigrants 
as  well  as  by  the  products  of  her  soil.  Her  people  expended  little  for  sup 
plies  from  abroad,  compared  with  the  value  of  their  exports,  and  St.  Louis 
was  financially  the  solidest  city  of  her  size  in  America ;  and  the  same  phrase 
describes  her  very  well  yet. 

On  a  bright  Sabbath  morning,  May  20,  1843,  we  arrived  at  Blacksnake 
Hills,  the  old  Indian  trading  station  of  Monsieur  Joseph  Robidoux.  By 
'  we '  I  mean  my  brother  Joseph  and  myself.  Joe  was  younger  than  I,  and 
had  come  out  from  Pennsylvania  to  see  the  world,  and  I  was  showing  it  to 
him.  Sabbath  it  was,  but  only  in  the  almanac,  and  on  the  smiling  prairies 
and  picturesque  bluffs  on  the  Missouri  side,  as  well  as  over  the  river  in  what 
was  not  yet  '  bleeding  Kansas,'  but  simply  a  paradise  for  future  Adams  and 
Eves  in  linsey  or  store  clothes,  and  as  yet  unknowing  of  Russel,  or  Butter- 
field,  or  Ben.  Holliday,  and  their  overland  ventures.  But  Sabbath  failed 
on  the  John  Aull.  Capt.  Roe  may  have  lost  his  almanac,  and  was  in  so 
much  of  a  hurry  to  get  home  for  another,  that  in  a  few  hours  the  boat  was 
unloaded,  and  after  taking  on  some  hides,  deerskins,  and  bales  of  hemp, 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  1G9 

from  Mons.  Robidoux's  warehouse,  turned  her  prow  down  stream.  The 
warehouse  was  a  building  of  stockade  fashion,  split  logs  set  upright  and 
roofed  with  clapboards,  '  with  the  weight  poles  over,'  as  Maj.  Alexis  Mudd 
had  it  in  his  log  cabin  song.  On  its  earthen  floor  were  stored  sugar,  coffee, 
salt,  and  other  merchandise,  together  with  the  household  furniture  and 
miscellaneous  'plunder7  of  the  incoming  settlers,  and  some  barrels  of  that 
prime  necessary  of  civilized  frontier  life,  Bourbon  whisky. 

Monsieur  Robidoux's  ample  log  house  for  dwelling  and  trade,  built  many 
years  before,  stood  a  short  distance  away  on  the  gentle  slope  of  a  hill,  with 
his  little  corn-cracking  mill  on  a  '  branch  '  in  the  foreground ;  and  the  active 
old  gentleman  himself  wTas  mounting  his  horse  for  a  ride  to  the  land  office, 
to  be  opened  next  day  at  Plattsburg.  He  wanted  to  be  on  hand  early  to 
enter  his  quarter  section,  which  it  was  said  the  people  of  Buchanan  county 
intended  to  take  from  him  for  a  county  seat.  They  wanted  to  lay  out  a 
town  and  sell  lots  ;  but  so  did  Mons.  Robidoux;  and  in  September,  1843,  the 
first  sale  of  lots  took  place.  With  proper  self-regard,  he  named  the  town 
after  himself,  ST.  JOSEPH  ;  but  I  protest  that  I  would  not,  untutored,  have 
taken  him  for  a  Saint,  although  he  was  an  intelligent  and  respectable  gen 
tleman  in  his  way.  All  this  took  place  forty  years  and  more  ago,  and  I 
have  seen  multitudes  of  people  since,  but  never  another  live  Saint. 


170  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

ON  THE  ROAD  —  PLATTE  PURCHASE  —  ATCHISON,  KRUM  AND  SAMUEL  —  AN 
OPEN  COURSE  FOR  EMPIRE  —  CAPT.  ASHLEY'S  APOLOGY  —  KEG  CREEK 
IN  FLOOD  —  MOSQUITO  CREEK  —  A  NIGHT  OUT  —  A  MERRY  RECEPTION  — 
FIRST  WHITE  MAN'S  HOUSE  IN  COUNCIL  BLUFFS — FIRST  PRAIRIE  PLOW 
IN  SOUTHWEST  IOWA  —  REUBEN  HILDRETH  ON  HIGH  WINDS  —  INDIAN  BOYS 
FOR  KENTUCKY  — A  ROBE  FOR  JAMES  BIRNEY  MARSHALL —COL.  JOHNSON'S 
INDIAN  ACADEMY  —  JOE'S  WAY  OF  CONVEYING  TRUTH. 

Arranging  at  Blacksnake  Hills  for  a  wagon  to  follow  on  Tuesday  with 
our  baggage,  and  trusting  it  to  entire  strangers  in  a  way  that  might  not  be 
safe  now,  Joe  <md  I  walked  five  or  six.  miles  to  Jamestown,  where  there 
was  a  post  office  kept  in  a  store,  a  tavern  we  could  stop  at,  and  a  black 
smith  shop  constituting  the  rest  of  the  town ;  all  obsolete  now  I  suppose. 
I  had  a  nice  rifle,  brought  from  Pennsylvania,  as  I  had  not  known  that 
Samuel  Hawken  or  T.  J.  Albright  could  supply  as  good,  or  better,  in  St. 
Louis ;  and  I  killed  enough  game  on  Monday  to  gain  reputation  with  the 
landlord  as  a  hunter,  and  to  make  a  dinner  for  the  guests  of  his  house ;  the 
game  being  two  gray  squirrels  and  a  woodcock,  and  the  guests  brother  Joe 
and  myself.  It  was  a  quiet  town.  The  people  strung  along  the  road  were 
on  their  way  to  select  '  claims  7  and  lived  in  camp.  Hundreds  of  excellent 
locations  in  the  '  Platte  Purchase  '  were  yet  vacant,  but  were  being  rapidly 
taken  up. 

The  Platte  Purchase  had  in  it'  about  fifteen  hundred  thousand  acres  of 
as  good  country  as  ever  laid  open  to  sun  and  rain  ;  but  few  of  our  present 
Missourians  know  its  history,  or  to  whom  the  State  is  indebted  for  it.  The 
old  west  line  of  the  state  of  Missouri  ran  due  north  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Kansas  river.  In  1835  David  B.  Atchison  suggested  the  acquisition  for  the 
state  of  Missouri  of  all  the  territory  east  of  the  Missouri  river,  and  south  of 
a  prolongation  of  the  north  line  of  the  state  westward  to  the  river ;  and 
John  M.  Krum,  of  St.  Louis  (who  had  been  a  surveyor  in  his  younger  days), 
happening  to  be  in  western  Missouri  on  legal  business,  assisted  Mr.  Atch 
ison  in  preparations  to  bring  before  Congress  the  project  of  extending 
the  Missouri  boundary.  E.  M.  Samuel  prepared  a  strong  memorial  to 
Congress  in  favor  of  the  measure,  to  which  himself,  John  Thornton  and 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  171 

Andrew  Hughes,  all  of  Clay  county,  were  the  first  signers ;  and  this  me 
morial  gave  vitality  to  the  project  at  Jefferson  and  Washington  Cities. 
The  movement  resulted  in  the  act  of  Congress  of  June  7,  and  of  the  Legis 
lature  of  Missouri  of  December  16,  1836 ;  and  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  by  his  proclamation,  declared  the  triangle  between  the  old  west 
line  of  the  state  and  the  Missouri  river  to  be  part  of  the  state  from  March 
28,  1837.  Such  was  the  'Platte  Purchase.'  The  Missouri  Senators  and 
Members  of  Congress  all  sustained  the  measure,  but  the  greatest  credit  was 
due  to  the  amiable  Senator,  Dr.  Lewis  F.  Linn.  The  voluntary  and  unpaid 
services  of  Mr.  Atchison,  Mr.  Krum  and  Mr.  Samuel  in  starting  the 
movement  that  resulted  in  so  great  an  acquisition  to  the  state,  entitle 
them  to  monuments  at  its  cost. 

E.  M.  Samuel  was  widely  known  at  an  early  day  as  a  citizen  of  broad 
views  and  great  public  spirit ;  qualities  which  are  happily  inherited  by 
his  son,  Webster  M.  Samuel,  so  well  known  in  the  commerce  and  enter 
prises  of  St.  Louis. 

With  our  baggage  in  an  ox  wagon  and  Joe  and  I  afoot,  our  march 
towards  Council  Bluffs  had  so  much  of  novelty  in  it  that  we  were  uncon 
scious  of  fatigue  ;  and  we  had  settlers'  houses  to  sleep  in  till  we  reached  the 
north  line  of  Missouri.  The  small  streams  had  rude  bridges,  and  the  Nod- 
away  and  Neshnebotna  ferries.  The  wagon  would  now  and  then  almost 
stick  fast  in  a  prairie  slough,  but  the  driver  had  a  repertoire  of  choice 
selections  from  the  stars  of  his  profession,  and  with  a  full  measure  of  rugged 
profanity,  and  a  big  whip  lash,  managed  to  keep  the  cattle  moving. 

The  quiet  tavern  at  Jamestown  was  the  last  hostelry  between  St.  Louis 
and  Japan.  No  Walker  House  then  for  Ann  Eliza,  his  nineteenth  wife,  to 
hide  in  from  Brigham  Young  at  Salt  Lake  ;  and  no  Palace  Hotel  at  Yerba 
Buena,  as  the  site  of  San  Francisco  was  then  called  by  the  Mexican  owners 
of  California.  Westward  from  Jamestown  there  was  only  the  vast  region 
of  plains  and  mountains  for  the  ''Course  of  Empire"  to  take  its  way 
across  the  continent.  We  were  on  the  '  ragged  edge  '  of  civilization  ;  but 
the  settlers  along  our  road  nearly  all  *  kept  entertainment '  and  we  had 
fared  well  in  houses  with  no  doorlocks,  though  I  remember  no  particulars 
of  any  of  the  hospitable  homes  except  Ashley's,  a  few  miles  beyond 
Savannah. 

Captain  Ashley  had  a  splendid  claim,  and  was  very  proud  of  its  fertile 
soil,  its  abundance  of  water,  and  its  goodly  proportions  of  prairie  and  tim 
ber.  We  rested  a  day,  and  of  course  the  Captain  and  I  had  a  good  deal  of 
talk,  during  which  I  took  care  to  tell  him  something  of  what  I  knew  about 
farming.  In  March,  1844,  going  northward,  I  stopped  again,  with  a  two- 
horse  wagon  driven  by  myself.  It  had  wooden  axle-trees  and  old  style 
spindles,  with  linch  pins,  and  in  the  morning  I  took  a  rail  from  the  stable 
yard  fence,  and  with  a  short  stick  of  wood  as  a  prop  began  to  raise  wheel 
after  wheel  to  '  grease  the  wagon  '  from  a  tar  bucket  hung  on  the  coupling 
pole.  Capt.  Ashley  came  out  to  assist,  but  I  thanked  him  and  said  I  could 


172  NOTES   TAKEN    IN    SIXTY   YEARS. 

get  along  very  well  by  myself,  as  every  teamster  where  I  came  from  must 
be  able  to  grease  his  own  wagon.  I  had  pieces  of  corn  cobs  stuck  in  the 
slots  of  the  hubs  to  keep  out  the  mud,  and  as  I  drew  pin  after  pin,  greased 
the  spindles  and  slipped  the  wheels  on  again,  putting  in  the  linch  pins  and 
then  the  bits  of  corn  cob  in  the  slots,  Capt.  Ashley  looked  on  the  process  as 
a  revelation.  At  length  he  could  hold  in  no  longer — 

"  Major,  I  owe  you  a  'pology,  and  I'll  come  down  like  a  squar  man. 
When  I  see  that  tarpot  on  the  wagon  pole,  I  says  to  myself,  who'd  a 
thought  it?  For  you  see,  when  you  was  by  here  last  spring,  and  talked 
about  farmin',  I  says  to  myself,  he's  a  bio  win' — dogon'd  if  I  din't.  But  I 
give  in.  That  tarpot  is  some,  and  them  corn  cobs  jest  gits  me !  Dogon'd  if 
I  don't  think  you  know  somethin',  after  all." 

I  only  had  the  pleasure  of  stopping  once  with  Capt.  Ashley  after  this, 
but  not  even  Horace  Greeley  himself  could  have  outranked  me  there  as  a 
farmer. 

At  length  Joe  and  I  reached  Keg  Creek,  about  where  the  town  of  Glen- 
wood,  Iowa,  now  stands,  and  found  it  in  flood.  Two  men  with  an  ox  team 
were  there,  carrying  over  their  loading  on  trees  felled  across  the  narrow 
stream,  having  taken  their  wagon  over  piecemeal  to  load  on  the  other  side, 
and  intending  to  swim  the  cattle.  That  was  the  way  people  had  sometimes 
to  do  in  a  new  country.  Engaging  these  men  to  bring  on  our  baggage,  our 
team  was  sent  back,  and  we  undertook  to  walk  to  the  camp  of  Capt.  Bur- 
g win's  company  of  dragoons.  It  was  a  long  walk,  if  we  had  known  which 
trail  to  take,  but  we  got  lost  and  had  to  lay  out  by  a  fire,  sleepless,  till 
morning,  with  wolves  howling  round  us,  and  mosquitos  innumerable.  We 
thought  the  stream  under  the  bluff  was  very  properly  called  Mosquito 
Creek,  and  we  learned  later  that  a  man  who  had  once  been  stripped  and  tied 
to  a  tree  on  its  banks  had  died  from  the  poison  of  the  pestiferous  insects.  It 
was  strange  to  us  to  find  mosquitos  annoying  so  far  north,  as  we  had  always 
supposed  them  to  be  most  numerous  in  the  south,  but  I  have  since  learned 
by  experience  that  out  on  the  open  and  high  plains  of  Dakota  they  are  in 
some  places  abundant  and  troublesome,  even  distant  from  water  courses  or 
swamps. 

Wandering  in  the  night  through  a  burnt  thicket  before  we  decided  to 
bivouac,  I  seemed  to  straddle  every  stiff  stub  near  our  course,  and  my 
trousers  gave  way,  but  my  drawers  were  fortunately  new  and  strong.  With 
hands  blackened  from  the  burnt  bushes,  and  faces  in  like  condition  from 
slaps  at  the  mosquitos,  we  were  in  sorry  plight  when  we  reached  Capt. 
Burgwin's  camp  about  8  o'clock  next  day  ;  and  as  an  officer  of  the  United 
States  and  a  Colonel  of  Pennsylvania,  all  the  dignity  I  could  put  on  did  not 
blind  the  soldiers  to  my  picturesque  condition.  One  of  them  went  to 
announce  the  arrival  of  the  new  Indian  agent,  and  as  Capt.  Burgwin  ap 
proached  I  opened  the  way  for  his  smothered  laugh  by  laughing  myself  as 
I  told  our  mishaps  ;  and  the  grin  that  the  soldiers  had  been  pretending  not 
to  know  was  on  their  faces  broadened  to  a  general  smile  all  round.  Never 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  173 

was  an  Indian  agent,  however  well  dressed,  received  at  his  post  so  merrily  ; 
but  I  was  soon  in  a  pair  of  Lieutenant  McCrate's  trowsers,  and  we  had 
breakfast,  not  unwelcome  after  a  fast  of  nearly  twenty-four  hours. 

West  and  northwest,  all  was  Indian  laud,  and  expected  to  remain  so, 
except  far-off  Oregon,  to  which  emigration  was  beginning.  As  to  the 
Rocky  Mountain  regions,  they  were  so  little  known  that  Fremont  had  only 
in  1842  made  his  first  exploration,  and  in  1843  was  engaged  in  his  second. 

Captain  Burgwin's  camp  was  in  the  little  valley  into  which  the  City  of 
Council  Bluffs  now  extends  itself.  The  ground  of  the  camp  is  all  in  streets 
and  city  lots  now.  Within  an  hour  after  breakfast  I  had  gone  to  the 
mouth  of  the  little  valley,  and  at  the  base  of  the  bluff  on  the  northern  side 
had  selected  a  site  for  a  house,  where  I  had  a  view  of  the  broad  prairie  and 
the  hills  to  the  southwest  and  west  beyond  the  river  ;  and  there  during  the 
summer  I  built  of  cotton  wood  logs  the  first  house  ever  erected  in  the  city 
of  Council  Bluffs  by  a  white  man  not  connected  by  marriage  with  Indians. 
I  am  the  u  oldest  Inhabitant "  of  that  city,  and  in  fact  built  the  first  white 
man's  house,  except  the  houses  of  the  traders,  in  all  Southwest  Iowa.  I  do 
not  know  how  far  eastward  it  was  from  my  house  to  the  settled  parts  of 
Iowa,  but  probably  about  150  miles. 

In  that  summer  of  1843  I  had  the  first  prairie  broken  that  ever  was 
invaded  by  a  white  man's  prairie  plow  in  Southwest  Iowa.  I  got  a  man  to 
come  up  from  Missouri  and  break  twenty  acres  immediately  in  front  of  the 
little  valley  mentioned.  He  had  five  yoke  of  oxen,  and  a  plow  with  a 
wooden  moldboard  three  or  four  feet  long,  and  a  share  made  by  a  country 
blacksmith,  to  cut  a  width  of  about  two  feet.  The  field  is  all  city  now,  the 
busiest  j)art  of  Council  Bluffs,  but  no  corn  is  ever  grown  in  Southwest  Iowa 
to  e>  eel  my  crop  of  1844.  Intelligent  cultivators  will  know  what  the  soil 
and  season  were,  when  I  state  that  in  a  garden  at  my  house  we  had  in  1844 
rhubarb  pies  from  plants  grown  the  same  season  from  seed  ;  the  leaf  stalks 
having  reached  a  length  of  ten  inches,  without  manure  or  any  unusual  care 
in  cultivation. 

It  was  truly  wonderful  corn,  each  stalk  as  thick  as  a  fat  woman's  arm, 
and  three  or  four  large  ears  on  it.  I  sold  the  crop  to  Reuben  Hildreth,  a 
white  man  in  charge  of  the  Indian  mill  on  Mosquito  Creek,  but  he  said  he 
had  seen  corn  as  good  "  up  in  Michigan."  He  had  seen  wonderful  things 
in  Michigan.  One  day  in  the  winter  of  1844-5  he  was  at  my  house  when  a 
blizzard  was  filling  the  air  with  dust  from  the  naked  sandbars  of  the  river 
and  ashes  from  the  burnt  prairie,  and  our  conversation  took  in  the  high 
winds. 

"Yes,  Major,"  he  said,  "it  blows  here,   but  I've  seen  it  worse  up  in 
Michigan,  on  the  lake  shore.    One  time  I  went  out  hunting,  with  a  small 
haversack  of  grub,  and  at  night  laid  down  to  sleep  in  a  pine  bush.    In  the 
morning  I  woke  up  in  the  top  of  a  tall  pine  tree." 
"Blown  up  there,  Reuben?" 


174  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEAKS. 

u  No,  sir.  I  had  laid  down  in  what  I  took  for  a  bush,  but  the  wind  got 
up  in  the  night  and  blowed  the  sand  away,  and  there  I  was  in  a  tree  top." 

"  How  did  you  get  down,  Reuben  ?" 

"I  walked  down." 

This  sounded  strong,  but  I  said  nothing.  We  sat  quiet  and  smoked,  as 
it  was  not  a  country  to  ask  too  many  questions  in. 

"  You  see,  Major,"  Mr.  Hildreth  resumed,  "I  had  my  grub  along,  and  I 
knowed  the  wind  would  change.  So  I  just  waited,  and  the  next  night,  sure 
enough,  the  wind  blowed  the  sand  all  back  again,  and  I  went  on  with  my 
hunt.  Yes,  sir — they  do  have  wind  up  in  Michigan." 

In  the  fall  of  1843  I  bought  a  Mackinaw  boat  from  Peter  A.  Sarpy,  whose 
trading  house  was  at  Belvue,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Missouri.  It  had 
been  built  at  the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  of  boards  cut  out  with  a 
whip-saw,  as  was  then  the  mode  with  the  hardy  successors  in  the  distant 
Indian  commerce  of  Ashley,  Campbell,  Sublette,  and  other  men  of  courage 
and  endurance.  The  boat  had  brought  a  cargo  of  furs,  robes  and  pelts  from 
the  upper  waters  of  the  Missouri,  and  the  goods  having  been  sent  to  St. 
Louis  by  the  steamboat  which  had  brought  up  our  supplies  and  annuities, 
the  rude  craft  was  for  sale.  It  would  do  to  float  down  to  Weston,  five  miles 
above  Fort  Leaven  worth,  thirteen  Indian  boys  that  orders  from  Washington 
said  must  go  to  Col.  Richard  M.  Johnson's  Academy  for  civilizing  Indians, 
at  Georgetown,  in  Kentucky.  Joe  and  I  gathered  up  the  boys,  and  with 
two  experienced  navigators,  soon  reached  Weston  where  on  the  day  after 
arrival  we  got  a  steamboat  to  St.  Louis. 

The  delay  of  one  '  sleep '  enabled  us  to  complete  our  outfit  for  a  journey 
into  a  denser  civilization,  and  to  see  Ben.  Holliday.  He  was  keeping  a  small 
drug  shop  in  Weston,  unconscious  of  the  remarkable  future  in  store  for  him; 
apparently  contented  in  his  eight  by  ten  log  shanty,  dealing  out  drugs, 
cigars  and  tobacco,  and  possibly  whisky  too,  for  all  I  recollect ;  not  by  any 
means  as  big  a  man  then  in  finance  or  commerce  as  Jean  Blancjour,  the 
jeweler  on  the  other  corner.  Ben's  subsequent  career  as  a  mail  carrier 
across  the  continent,  and  owner  of  steamers  on  the  Pacific,  is  one  of  those 
phenomena  that  do  not  explain  themselves,  unless  we  credit  the  individual 
with  superior  abilities,  only  needing  a  proper  field  and  opportunity  for  their 
exercise.  Ben  in  his  little  drug  shop  at  Weston,  and  Ulysses  in  the  leather 
store  at  Galena,  were  neither  of  them  above  the  level  of  ordinary  men ;  but 
opportunity  roused  their  dormant  powers.  If  California  had  not  been 
acquired  (by  the  unpensioned  soldiers  of  the  Mexican  war),  Ben.  might  have 
continued  selling  drugs  and  villainous  cigars  at  Weston.  If  there  had  been 
no  secession,  Ulysses  might  still  be  selling  material  for  boots  and  brogans. 
No  better  illustration  than  these  two  cases  of  what  opportunity  may  do  in 
the  way  of  developing  talent. 

Arrived  at  Louisville  on  our  way  to  Col.  Johnson's  civilizing  Academy, 
I  called  at  the  printing  house  of  James  Biriiey  Marshall,  and  had  a  friendly 
chat  with  that  excellent  man,  whose  heart  was  fuller  of  '  the  milk  of  human 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  TEAKS.  175 

kindness,'  I  think,  than  ever  his  pocket  was  of  cash.  He  was  equally  sur 
prised  and  gratified  when  he  found  that  I  had  brought  him  a  very  large 
buffalo  robe,  handsomely  embellished  with  paintings  by  aboriginal  artists, 
as  an  evidence  of  my  appreciation  of  his  generous  treatment  when  I  was  a 
jour,  printer  in  his  office  six  years  before.  This  incident  is  only  of  value  as 
showing  that  a  little  gratitude  was  possible  among  men  even  forty  years 
ago,  and  as  enabling  me  to  say,  that  the  memory  of  that  gift  has  been  worth 
to  me  in  self-applause  the  price  of  a  hundred  buffalo  robes.  It  is  delightful 
to  indulge  in  gratitude,  as  it  costs  nothing,  and  nurses  one's  self-love  in  a 
harmless  way,  besides  having  a  tinge  of  singularity  in  it  that  seems  to  set 
one  a  little  apart  from  the  mass  of  mankind,  and  almost  lifts  him  to  the 
moral  elevation  of  the  better  and  more  grateful  sex. 

I  have  no  recollection  of  what  became  of  the  Indian  boys  we  took  to 
Kentucky.  The  Academy  was,  I  suppose,  patronized  by  the  government 
to  help  along  Col.  Johnson,  who  was  the  man  who  may  have  killed  Tecum- 
seh,  and  had  been  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  but  missed  a  re 
election  in  1840.  Indian  boys  may  have  profited  by  the  institution,  but  I 
never  heard  of  any  that  did  so.  The  folks  at  Washington  have  not  yet 
learned  that  Indians  can  be  brought  to  civilization  better  by  having  the 
children  at  work  and  at  school  in  their  own  country. 

We  \vent  on  to  Pennsylvania,  and  I  left  Joe  at  our  native  town  as  I 
passed,  impatient  to  reach  little  John  D.  and  his  mother.  Joe  had  seen  the 
world  far  away,  and  at  once  began  to  tell  of  it.  The  first  day  he  told  the 
exact  truth  of  the  '  great  west '  so  far  as  he  had  seen  and  understood  it ; 
the  busy  towns,  the  cruising  steamboats,  the  active  and  intelligent  people, 
the  broad  prairies  and  exuberant  soil,  the  spread  of  settlements,  and  so  on. 

"  Yes,  Joe — it's  very  easy  to  talk  " — was  the  usual  commentary. 

It  was  all  so  far  beyond  their  ideas  that  they  could  not  believe  more  than 
half  of  his  narrations,  and  on  the  second  day,  as  he  told  me  afterwards,  he 
"  just  doubled  up  on  them." 

"Why,  Joe,"  said  I,  with  elder  brother  gravity,  "you  ought  to  have 
given  them  the  truth." 

"  Well,  so  I  did.  They  only  got  half  the  truth  the  first  day,  as  they 
did'nt  believe  more  than  half  of  what  I  told  them  ;  but  when  I  doubled  up 
on  them,  and  they  still  believed  only  half,  they  got  it  as  near  right  as 
people  can  who  have  never  been  away  from  home." 

A  youth  of  manly  bearing  and  rare  talent,  my  brother  Joseph,  endowed 
with  that  good  sense  which  gets  on  in  the  world  ;  but  he  passed  away  in 
the  first  bloom  of  manhood.  Sad  fatality,  that  the  brightest  of  all  should 
soonest  fade.  In  that  docorous  village  cemetery,  on  the  bank  of  the  beau 
tiful  river,  the  summer  birds  sing  gaily,  heedless  of  the  lost,  as  we  pay  our 
tribute  of  tears.  With  emotion  that  cannot  be  restrained  we  look  on  the 
marble  placed  there  for  the  fond  and  faithful  mother.  Ranged  on  the  one 
hand  are  the  marbles  for  the  sons  she  loved  and  cared  for  so  well,  and  on 
the  other  is  the  unbroken  sod,  waiting  for  her  mate  of  more  than  half  a 
century,  now  numbering  his  fourscore  years  and  ten. 


176  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

BONNEVILLE  —  FREMONT  —  A  WINTER  IN  ST.  LOUIS  —  INDIANS  —  STODDARD 
ADDITION— THE  OLD  MILL  DAM  — PLANTERS  HOUSE— STICKNEY'S  PARA 
DISE —  JUDGE  MULLANPHY  GRANTS  A  LICENSE  —  UP  TO  WESTON  —  FIRST 
CIVIL  MARRIAGE  IN  COUNCIL  BLUFFS  —  OMAHA — LONG  WAGON  JOURNEY — 
A  NIGHT  BLIZZARD  —  UNRULY  HORSE  — ST.  PATRICK'S  DAY  —  SETTLERS 
AND  SQUATTERS  —  WOMEN  OF  THE  FRONTIER — POEM  ON  THE  SQUATTER'S 
WIFE. 

Returning  westward  in  November,  1843,  (little  John  D.  and  his  mother 
along,)  we  had  on  the  boat  from  Pittsburg  Capt.  B.  L.  E.  Bonneville  and 
his  family— the  same  intelligent  and  modest  gentleman,  whose  adventures 
as  an  explorer  and  Indian  trader  have  been  so  happily  told  by  Washing 
ton  Irving.  As  I  had  not  then  read  Irving,  I  did  not  know  the  worth  or 
rank  of  our  traveling  companion,  and  as  he  said  nothing  of  his  past  history 
I  did  not  learn  that  he  had  done  so  much  lor  Fremont  to  imitate  or  excel. 
Ranking  as  General  Bonneville,  he  survived  to  know  that  a  railroad  had 
crossed  the  deserts  where  he  had  endured  so  many  hardships  and  encoun 
tered  so  many  perils.  His  name,  with  those  of  other  adventurers  of  fifty 
or  more  years  ago,  ought  to  be  inscribed  on  a  monument  at  the  Nation's 
cost  in  the  midst  of  the  continent,  say  in  the  National  Park,  on  some  divide 
where  it  would  look  at  once  on  the  waters  flowing  to  the  Atlantic  and  to 
the  Pacific. 

Does  the  reader  know  how  a  renowned  explorer  was  made  ?  When  the 
whigs  were  fiercest  in  their  assaults  on  President  Tyler,  and  help  from  any 
quarter  was  desirable,  Dr.  Silas  Reed  suggested  to  the  President  to  attempt 
the  conciliation  of  Col.  Benton  (as  an  offset  to  Mr.  Clay)  by  sending  his 
son-in-law  (who  had  run  away  with  his  daughter  Jesse)  on  an  exploring 
expedition  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  John  Charles  Fremont  was  then  a 
Lieutenant  in  the  Army,  and  Mr.  Tyler,  acting  on  Dr.  Reed's  suggestion, 
sent  him  out  in  1842.  Whatever  the  world  has  gained  by  Gen.  Fremont's 
public  services  in  exploration  must  be  credited  partly  to  Silas  Reed  and 
John  Tyler,  who  made  him  an  explorer,  and  partly  to  his  excellent  wife, 
who  to  her  father's  spunk  and  spirit,  added  the  domestic  virtues  and  intel 
lectual  graces  which  adorn  womanhood. 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  177 

Mrs.  Butler  was  also  on  board  our  boat  from  Pittsburgh.  I  do  not  remem 
ber  where  she  was  from  or  where  she  was  going,  but  only  that  she  was  an 
interesting  widow  lady  of  about  three  decades,  and  that  on  Sunday  evening 
she  regretted  very  much  that  there  was  no  clergyman  on  board,  but  thought 
that  as  I  had  a  grave  and  rather  clerical  appearance  I  might  read  some  pas 
sages  of  Scripture  for  general  edification.  Now,  reading  Scripture  on  Sun 
day  evenings  in  the  cabins  of  steamboats  had  never  been  a  habit  of  mine,  but 
in  sheer  good  nature  and  to  pass  the  time  profitably  I  complied,  only  to  find 
that  my  selections  were  not  happily  made.  Very  innocently  I  began  with 
the  Song  of  Solomon,  but  had  not  proceeded  very  far  before  Mrs.  Butler 
very  politely  signified  that  while  she  was  much  indebted  for  my  compliance 
with  her  suggestion,  perhaps  the  services  might  as  well  close,  as  nearly  all 
the  lady  passengers  appeared  to  have  become  sleepy  and  had  left  the  cabin 
during  the  reading.  I  have  never  read  the  Scriptures  aloud  in  a  steamboat 
cabin  since,  lest  I  might  again  be  unfortunate  in  the  choice  of  the  portions 
read.  The  Song  of  Solomon  is  a  very  poetic  piece  of  sacred  literature  ;  but 
if  people  will  persist  in  misinterpreting  allegorical  or  metaphorical  passages, 
and  suppose  them  to  have  occult  meanings  unsuiting  them  fpr  utterance  in 
a  mixed  company,  in  the  cabin  of  a  boat,  the  only  safe  rule  for  an  amateur 
is  not  to  read  at  all.  Besides,  I  had  to  endure  a  gentle  lecture  on  the  pro 
prieties  from  one  in  authority  after  retirement  to  the  stateroom. 

We  spent  the  winter  of  1843-4  in  St.  Louis,  and  took  boarding  at  first  in 
the  then  outskirts  of  the  city,  in  the  brick  mansion  owned  by  Mrs.  John 
Perry,  on  the  corner  of  Sixth  and  Locust  streets.  Luther  M.  Kennett  was 
building  the  first  marble-front  ever  in  St.  Louis  on  the  next  lot  north,  but 
folks  generally  thought  it  was  rather  far  away  from  business,  then  mostly 
transacted  on  the  Levee,  Main  and  Second  streets.  From  our  windows  we 
could  look  westward  to  a  clump  of  forest  trees  at  Eighteenth  and  St.  Charles 
streets,  and  could  see  the  camp  of  some  Indians  on  a  friendly  visit  to  Col. 
Mitchell,  the  Superintendent  Beyond  the  Indian  camp  were  farms  which 
have  long  since  been  entirely  destroyed — ruthlessly  laid  out  in  city  lots, 
and  now  with  dwellings,  schools,  churches,  and  swarms  of  civilized  people, 
with  all  the  virtues  and  possibly  some  of  the  vices  of  humanity.  Only  eight 
years  after  our  sojourn  at  Sixth  and  Locust,  I  assisted  to  lay  out  blocks  and 
lots  on  several  good  farms,  nearly  half  a  mile  west  of  the  Indian  camp,  and 
at  a  three  days'  auction,  beginning  September  10,  1851,  we  made  nearly  as 
much  noise  in  what  we  called  '  Stoddard  Addition '  as  Commodore  Perry 
did  in  his  famous  battle  on  Lake  Erie  (the  anniversary  of  which  we  had 
chosen  for  the  sale), — lots  being  knocked  down  to  the  Vandals  present  at 
from  five  to  ten  dollars  a  front  foot,  now  going  at  two  hundred  or  there 
away — an  increase  in  value  of  50  per  cent  or  more  per  annum  of  original 
cost.  If  present  or  future  people  ever  think  of  the  manner  in  which  that 
addition  was  laid  out,  with  its  wide  streets,  deep  lots  and  ample  alleys,  let 
them  thank  Hiram  W.  Leffingwell  and  myself.  We  had  charge  of  the  sur 
vey  and  insisted  on  having  it  right,  although  some  of  the  owners  of  the 


178  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

property  thought  that  'front  feet  sell  better  than  back  feet,'  and  wanted 
short  lots  and  all  the  front  feet  possible,  regardless  of  the  public  interest. 
We  made  the  subdivision  to  harmonize  as  well  as  possible  with  the  older 
part  of  the  city,  and  this  was  one  of  the  services  to  St.  Louis  of  Hiram  and 
myself  that  we  never  blew  our  trumpets  over,  and  nobody  blew  for  us. 

Our  next  boarding  house  during  the  winter  of  '43-4  was  on  the  corner  of 
Elm  and  Second  streets  ;  but  Michael  Sutter's  Omnibus  had  not  begun  to 
toil  through  the  mud.  The  genial  Wilson  Prim  came  walking  up  Second 
street  in  the  morning  from  his  cottage  home,  smoking  his  pipe  with  the 
serene  composure  of  an  honest  gentleman,  his  profession  as  a  lawyer  '  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding.'  I  had  very  little  to  do,  and  often  strolled  away 
up  to  Sixth  or  Seventh  streets,  where  but  few  houses  obstructed  the  view  ; 
and  I  sometimes  went  even  as  far  as  Chouteau's  Pond,  and  would  look  at 
the  outside  of  the  old  stone  mill  (in  which  ten  years  later,  I  aided  to  start 
the  first  stone-sawing  by  steam  in  St.  Louis),  and  would  try  to  imagine 
what  a  nice  cascade  the  water  trickling  over  the  mill-dam  would  make  if 
there  was  only  enough  of  it.  Mr.  Renshaw's  lone  mansion  was  at  the 
corner  of  Ninth  and  Market  streets,  but  there  was  little  if  any  city  growth 
beyond.  As  to  Morgan  street  and  Franklin  avenue — when  I  was  told  that 
I  could  get  lots  at  Seventh  or  Eighth  streets  for  seven  or  eight  dollars  a 
foot,  I  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  regret  that  I  had  no  money  to  buy 
with.  Once  I  wandered  towards  the  north  pole,  and  got  as  far  as  the  old 
reservoir  on  Ashley  street,  and  one  fine  day  in  February  I  drove  out  with 
little  John  D.  and  his  mother,  passing  the  Big  Mound  and  actually  crossing 
a  far  away  stream  called  Rocky  Branch  ! 

The  Astor  House  in  New  York  was  then  the  big  hotel  of  the  Atlantic 
slope,  and  the  Planters  House  in  St.  Louis  and  the  St.  Charles  Hotel  in 
New  Orleans  were  the  grand  hotels  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Gales  and 
Beaton,  editors  of  the  National  Intelligencer,  having  requested  me  to  note 
things  worth  telling  of  in  their  paper,  I  sent  them  a  description  of  the 
Planters  House,  the  hotel  being  of  unusual  size  for  the  times.  Mr.  Stickney 
gave  me  the  particulars  very  readily,  but  cared  little  whether  his  house  got 
into  the  paper  or  not,  as  guests  were  plenty.  He  tendered  hospitalities  for 
'  writing  up '  his  hotel,  but  I  declined  them,  and  the  delights  of  his  *  para 
dise  '  up  the  river  I  never  had  the  opportunity  of  enjoying.  I  only  heard  of 
it  in  the  early  summer  of  1855.  Taking  boat  at  Keokuk  for  St.  Louis,  I 
found  Mr.  Augustus  Kerr  on  board,  and  after  the  greetings  usual  between 
fellow  townsmen  abroad,  expressed  my  surprise  at  meeting  him  there. 

"  Oh,  I've  been  up  at  Stickney's  place,"  he  replied 

"  I  didn't  know  he  had  a  place  up  the  river." 

"  But  he  has  though.  At  Rock  Island.  A  perfect  paradise — mint  patch 
right  at  the  door,  and  you  can  have  a  julep  before  breakfast,  with  the  dew 
on  it!" 

Byron  says  'many  are  poets  who  have  never  penned  their  inspiration,' 
and  Mr.  Kerr  was  probably  of  this  class.  The  idea  of  a  mint  julep  'with 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  179 

the  dew  on  it,'  has  a  poetic  flavor,  and  the  association  of  a  mint  patch  and 
paradise  is  beyond  anything  in  Bryant  or  Longfellow. 

During  the  winter  I  applied  to  His  Honor  Bryan  Mullanphy,  Judge  of 
the  St.  Louis  Circuit  Court,  for  license  to  practice  law.  The  eccentric  char 
acter  of  this  learned  gentleman — whose  munificent  bequest  established  the 
'  Mullanphy  Emigrant's  Home,'  that  has  given  aid  and  comfort  to  so  many 
poor  wanderers — is  well  known  ;  but  my  examination  was  a  pleasant  ordeal. 
After  a  few  questions,  readily  answered  by  one  who  had  for  some  weeks 
been  diligently  reading  up  in  borrowed  law  books,  the  Judge  said — 

u  You  have  a  very  particular  memory,  sir — very  particular— and  I  shall 
grant  your  license  with  much  pleasure." 

The  license  was  dated  January  5, 1844,  but  the  '  particular  memory  '  was 
due  in  great  measure  to  recent  study  of  Brittoii  A.  Hill's  law  books.  As  to 
memory,  let  me  advise  you,  My  Young  Friend,  to  cultivate  your  memory  if 
you  can.  It  is  the  better  part  of  genius  for  many  uses.  Macauley's  style  is 
brilliant,  because  of  illustrations  at  hand  in  his  affluent  memory.  Mezzo- 
fanti's  memory  never  lost  a  word  or  inflexion  of  a  strange  language,  and, 
with  his  ready  perception,  made  him  the  most  remarkable  linguist  of  all 
history.  Particularly  if  you  imagine  yourself  to  possess  the  'gift  of  the 
gab,'  and  want  to  shine  as  an  orator,  try  to  improve  your  memory.  The 
inestimable  faculty  of  Edwaid  Everett,  which  enabled  him  to  commit  his 
polished  sentences  to  memory,  and  utter  them  as  if  arising  in  his  mind  at 
the  moment,  made  his  fame.  Even  the  great  Daniel  Webster  carefully 
thought  out  beforehand  what  he  wished  to  say  on  any  important  occasion, 
and  never  forgot  his  carefully  forged  thunder.  To  the  impromptu  speaker 
a  well-stored  memory  is  the  ammunition  belt,  from  which  he  can  draw  a 
fresh  missile  for  every  one  fired  off. 

Although  Judge  Mullanphy  had  authorized  me  to  make  a  fortune  at  the 
law,  I  preferred  to  retain  for  a  time  my  little  Indian  office,  and  on  the  24th 
of  February  we  took  boat  for  Weston.  There  my  farm  learning,  acquired 
after  I  had  quit  school  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  came  into  play.  I  fitted  up  a 
wagon  (little  John  D.'s  mother  and  Mrs.  Scoggin  making  up  the  Osnaburg 
cover)  and  with  two  stout  horses  we  started  in  March  for  a  drive  of  about 
160  miles  to  Council  Bluffs. 

The  name  of  "Council  Bluffs"  on  our  side  of  the  Missouri  was  a  mis 
nomer,  and  it  is  improper  yet,  applied  to  the  lively  city  up  there,  within  the 
limits  of  which,  in  1844, 1  solemnized  the  first  civil  marriage  in  all  South  west 
Iowa.  Marriage  in  some  form  or  other  has  gone  on  pretty  much  every 
where  for  a  long  time,  and  the  heart  of  our  miller,  Keuben  Hildreth,  had 
been  smitten  by  the  charms  of  an  Indian  maiden  in  the  family  of  Mr. 
Joseph  Laframboise,  my  half-breed  Interpreter,  where  she  and  his  two 
wives  did  the  housework.  A  young  lady  of  decorum,  Miss  Labang  was 
(although  her  name  meant  Pancake)  and  scorned  the  idea  of  an  uncere 
monious  marriage.  Reuben  would  have  been  easily  satisfied,  but  she — 
well,  marriage  in  the  aboriginal  mode  might  do  for  less  decorous  damsels, 


180  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEABS. 

but  not  for  her.  Here,  now,  was  a  difficulty.  The  Priest  had  made  us  his 
annual  visit  in  May,  and  about  ten  months  would  elapse  before  he  would 
come  again  ;  but  Mr.  Laframboise  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  He  strolled 
over  to  the  agency  house — 

"My  Fadder,"  he  said  to  me,  dis  bad  business.  Hard  on  Labang— 
hard  on  Reub.  Labang  good  girl — Reub.  good  man.  Want  to  marry — want 
to  marry  bad.  No  Priest— don't  want  to  wait  next  year." 

"  Well,  Joseph,  how  can  /help  them?" 

"  Dat's  it,  my  Fadder.  You  see,  dein  traders  calls  you  Major.  All  agent 
is  Major.  But  Indian  calls.you  Fadder." 

"Well?" 

"Dis  way.  Priest  he  Fadder  too  for  'ligion.  You  Fadder  for  business. 
Pay  annuity — look  out  for  gov'ment — look  out  for  Indian — traders  too  and 
fellers  from  de  states.  You  big  man  over  all  dis  country." 

"  Well,  Joseph,  what  has  that  to  do  with  Labang  and  Reub?" 

"Dis  what  I  say,  Fadder.  Little  man  down  in  states  he  marry  people. 
What  you  call  him — Justice  Peace.  You  bigger  man — like  great  Chief. 
You  come  my  home  Sunday  night.  Reub.  be  dere.  Heap  people  too.  Den 
you  marry  dem,  same  Justice  Peace." 

So  it  was  settled,  and  on  Sunday  evening,  as  Chief  Magistrate  of  Potta- 
watamie  Land,  I  performed  the  marriage  ceremony  and  declared  Mr.  Hil- 
dreth  and  Miss  Labang  to  be  husband  and  wife,  to  their  mutual  satisfaction, 
and  the  gratification  of  Mr.  Laframboise,  who  had  invented  the  process. 
They  may  be  husband  and  wife  yet  for  all  I  know,  and  I  have  only  men 
tioned  the  circumstance  to  put  on  record  the  first  civil  marriage  (in  the 
presence  of  spectators)  in  all  southwest  Iowa.  As  I  returned  homeward 
that  happy  summer  night,  the  tall  elms  in  the  little  valley,  with  their  inter 
locking  limbs  high  overhead  and  the  moonlight  streaming  through,  were 
silently  teaching  Gothic  Architecture,  presenting  a  series  of  arches  equal  to 
any  that  my  friend  John  F.  Mitchel  could  design,  with  all  his  skill  as  an 
architect. 

The  Council  Bluffs  of  history,  where  Lewis  and  Clark  held  a  solemn 
council  with  the  Indians,  nearly  eighty  years  ago,  while  the  world  was 
struggling  along  without  railroads  or  telegraphs,  or  even  steamboats,  are 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Missouri,  above  the  point  where  the  Boyer  river 
enters  on  the  east,  and  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  site  of  the  old  'Maha 
village.  The  village  is  oosolete,  and  on  or  near  its  site,  the  enterprising 
city  of  Omaha  now 

Fronts  the  rude  blizzard  with  the  courage  high 
That  only  knows  to  conquer  or  to  die; 
The  central  spot  of  all  this  world  so  fair, 
For,  starting  thence,  one  can  go  anywhere! 

Our  wagon  journey  was  a  novel  experience  to  little  John  D.'s  mother, 
but  with  that  exquisite  sense  of  propriety  which  always  governs  a  good 
wife,  she  made  herself  at  home  in  all  the  settlers'  cabins  we  stopped  at,  and, 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEAKS.  181 

town-bred  though  she  was,  bore  with  exemplary  patience  the  discomfort 
and  actual  hardships.  The  nice  little  widow,  Mrs.  Scoggin,  who  was  going 
along  on  a  visit  to  her  parents,  was  also  patient  and  cheerful.  As  usual, 
the  fortitude  was  on  the  side  of  the  women,  for  as  Joseph  M.  Field  once 
wrote,  'it  seems  to  be  the  lot  of  women  to  endure.'  The  fretting  was  thus 
left  to  me,  and  I  did  justice  to  the  occasions,  particularly  the  first  night 
after  we  crossed  the  Missouri  line.  We  had  lodged  at  a  border  house,  and 
had  to  camp  at  Keg  Creek;  for  after  a  smart  rain  a  blizzard  came  on  at 
night  that  nearly  upset  our  wagon ;  three  in  a  bed  and  little  John  D.  extra. 
It  was  close  packing  in  the  wagon  box,  on  a  feather  bed  taken  along  for 
emergencies,  John  D.  and  his  mother  in  the  middle,  and  the  widow  on  one 
outside  and  I  on  the  other  ;  but  what  with  the  cold  blizzard,  and  one  of  the 
horses,  tied  by  a  chain  to  a  fore-wheel,  trying  to  get  back  to  the  states,  our 
sleep  was  not  profound.  Let  me  caution  you,  My  Venturesome  Friend, 
when  you  go  on  a  wagon  trip  in  the  wilderness,  with  Madam  and  your 
three  year  old  son,  and  a  charming  widow  of  good  Kentucky  stock,  all  in 
the  same  wagon,  be  sure  you  don't  go  in  the  blizzard  season,  or  have  a  horse 
that  pulls  at  the  wheel  you  tie  him  to ;  for  '  tired  nature's  sweet  restorer, 
balmy  sleep  '  is  hardly  possible  under  circumstances  so  adverse. 

But  the  blizzard  fortunately  blew  itself  out,  and  as  we  moved  on  next 
morning  the  brilliant  sun  which  they  have  in  that  country,  where  the  river 
is  960  feet  above  sea  level,  threw  his  inspiring  beams  over  the  prairie  and 
gave  us  millions  of  diamonds  where  the  rain  had  congealed  on  the  dry 
weeds  and  grass.  It  was  Saint  Patrick's  Day,  1844,  and  as  I  twisted  my 
head  round  to  explain  to  the  widow,  as  a  polite  man  should,  how  the  good 
Saint  had  cleared  Erin  of  snakes,  but  that  the  use  of  that  sovereign  remedy 
for  their  bites — whisky — had  become  so  common  in  the  green  Isle  that  it 
was  hardly  given  up  yet,  although  the  snakes  had  all  disappeared  centuries 
ago, — John  D.'s  mother  suggested  that  I  had  better  look  where  the  horses 
were  going  (as  we  were  breaking  a  track  across  the  prairie)  and  added  the 
remark  that  she  hoped  we  would  soon  get  to  some  kind  of  a  breakfast. 
More  appropriate  remarks  were  never  made,  but  to  this  day  I  am  not  sure 
whether  Mrs.  Scoggin  got  a  clear  idea  of  snakes  or  not. 

About  noon  we  reached  Point-aux-Poules,  and  drove  to  the  Interpreter's 
House ; — not  the  one  John  Bunyaii  tells  of,  but  that  of  my  old  half-breed 
friend,  Peerish  LeClaire,  whose  bustling  Indian  wife,  although  her  hair 
was  streaked  with  gray,  soon  had  us  seated  at  a  goodly  spread  of  fried 
chicken,  biscuit  and  coffee.  As  we  had  expected  to  arrive  the  day  before, 
but  had  been  detained  by  the  storm,  and  had  exhausted  our  lunch,  we  all 
thought  it  the  best  breakfast  we  had  lately  had  a  chance  at.  To  me  it  was 
even  better  than  the  breakfast  of  the  year  before,  with  Capt.  Burgwin,  to 
the  exact  amount  of  the  difference  between  two  agreeable  ladies  and  two 
pleasant  gentlemen. 

John  D.'s  mother  was  much  interested  in  the  life  of  the  pioneer  women. 
Uving  as  they  did  in  makeshift  houses,  with  scanty  furniture,  poor  raiment, 


182  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

constant  toil,  and  at  times  with  but  limited  supplies  of  food,  the  condition 
of  the  women  excited  her  womanly  sympathies,  and  really  added  to  the 
material  hardships  of  the  journey.  Traveling  as  we  did  nearly  the  entire 
length  of  the  Platte  Purchase,  we  saw  the  houses  of  the  settlers  and  squat 
ters;  the  former  intended  to  be  permanent,  the  latter  mostly  temporary. 
We  could  tell  the  class  he  belonged  to  as  soon  as  a  man  began  to  talk.  The 
settler  descanted  on  his  intended  'betterments;'  the  squatter  enlarged  on 
the  value  of  his  '  claim,'  which  he  was  always  ready  to  sell  in  order  to  move 
on.  In  each  class  the  women's  lot  was  hard  ;  that  of  the  settler's  wife  to 
help  raise  money  to  pay  the  United  States  for  the  land ;  that  of  the  squat 
ter's  wife  to  keep  the  home  in  shape  till  the  claim  could  be  sold,  when  she 
would  be  ready,  with  her  lord,  and  the  little  tow-headed  children,  to  endure 
again  the  inconveniences  and  hardships  of  seeking  a  new  location. 

Neither  story  nor  song  has  ever  done  justice  to  the  women  of  the 
frontier.  Their  industry,  patience,  fortitude  and  endurance  have  been  so 
wonderful,  as  only  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  they  knew  no  better. 
Their  manifestation  of  these  qualities  has  often  put  to  shame— or  ought  to 
have  done  so — the  men  associated  with  their  lives.  The  great  world  knows 
little  or  nothing  of  the  faithful  sisterhood  of  pioneer  women;  but  their 
obscure  lives  were  often  full  of  what  in  men  would  be  called  heroism ;  and 
we  owe  to  them  in  a  great  degree  the  spread  of  empire  westward,  ever  since 
the  matrons  and  maids  were  first  led  into  the  wilderness  by  Daniel  Boone 
and  his  courageous  comrades.  There  ought  to  be  an  obelisk  erected— taller 
than  any  on  earth — and  dedicated  to  the  pioneer  women  of  America,  who, 
ever  since  the  landing  of  the  Mayflower,  have  been  the  patient  and  slightly 
rewarded  servitors  of  civilization. 

THE  SQUATTER'S  WIFE. 

God  bless  you  for  comin'.  Doctor— nigh  on  to  twenty  mile; 
She's  bin  a-ravin'  a  little,  and  a-moanin'  all  the  while. 
The  fever,  it  come  like  a  painter— suddently,  with  a  jump, 
And  afore  we  know'd  of  the  ailin'  she  was  all  of  a  burnin'  lump. 

Yes— corn  and  roughness  a  plenty— I'll  tend  to  the  nag  myself, 
And  you'll  find  a  nip  in  the  corner,  right  thar  on  the  middle  shelf. 
Neighbors  ?    You'd  better  believe  it  !    Four  mile  and  odd  away, 
But  mostly  here  by  daylight -down  some  one  draps  in  to  stay. 

Kind  ?    Why  bless  you,  Doctor,  that  word  don't  tell  it  right — 
A-comin'  so  fur  to  see  her,  and  stayin'  the  lonesome  night. 
Yes— women,  as  men  looks  at  it,  is  sometimes  light  o'  head, 
But  they  minds  me  more  of  angels,  a-watching  round  her  bed 

She's  hed  a  hard  road  of  it,  Doctor,  most  allays  up  to  the  hub, 
A-spinnin',  a-weavin'  and  sewin'— a-washin'  and  cookin'  o'  grub. 
Besides  the  care  of  the  childer,  and  raisin'  the  garden  stuff- 
She  allays  sed  it  would  kill  her,  and  I  think,  now,  'twas  most  enough. 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY    ^EARS.  183 

I  hev'n't  meant  to  be  triflin'  and  nobody  calls  me  mean, 

But  I  doubt  ef  I've  been  as  keerful  of  Sue  as  I  mought  hev  bin. 

Away  up  thar  on  Pigeon,  them  times  in  Tennessee, 

No  whar  round  Moccasin  Crossin'  was  a  par  like  Sue  and  me. 

But  what  with  movin'  and  movin'— a-squattin',  and  rnovin'  on, 
A-makin'  o'  claims  and  a-sellin',  nigh  thirty  year  has  gone. 
But  I've  hearn  of  a  place  to  settle,  whar  they  say  the  range  is  fine— 
A  plenty  of  timber  and  prairie,  jest  over  the  Indian  line. 

Well  now  go  in  to  see  her— God  bless  her,  a-sufferin'  thar— 
And,  Doctor,  ef  you  kin  cure  her,  lead  home  yon  sorrel  mar. 
She's  bin  a  good  woman,  Doctor— sho  !— well,  it  wor  a  tear, 
For  we  wus  young  together,  and  bin  yoked  for  thirty  year. 


184  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEAKS. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

CIVILIZING  THE  INDIANS  —  HUDSON  E.  BRIDGE  AND  SAMUEL  GATT  —  A  LEFT- 
HAND  PLOW  — ASTONISHING  CORN  — THE  CHARMS  OF  SOLITUDE  — A  CON 
VENIENT  POST  OFFICE^ — LETTERS  25  CENTS  EACH  —  CHOICE  MUSIC  —  AN 
UNUSUAL  AUDITOR  —  LOG  OF  THE  HIBERNIAN — MORMONS  —  BOUNDARIES 
OF  IOWA  —  DOUGLAS  SECURES  THEM  —  A  DEBT  OF  IOWA — WHAT  FOREVER 
MEANT  IN  1845  — A  NATIONAL  HIGHWAY  TO  OREGON. 

We  were  civilizing  the  Indians,  and  I  had  orders  to  get  some  plows  to 
aid  the  process.  When  first  located  on  their  five  million  acres  in  Southwest 
Iowa — about  2,500  acres  to  each  Pottawatamie  soul — a  very  respectable  gen 
tleman  who  had  seen  better  days,  Mr.  Hardin,  of  the  Kentucky  Hardins, 
had  been  employed  as  a  *  Farmer  '  to  teach  the  Indians  agriculture ;  but  no 
implements  had  ever  been  furnished,  and  his  office  had  been  abolished  just 
before  my  time.  With  exquisite  wisdom,  equalled  nowhere  on  earth  unless 
in  Tupper's  Proverbial  Philosophy,  the  Indian  Bureau  at  Washington  ordered 
plows  to  be  provided  more  than  a  year  after  the  '  Farmer '  who  was  to  teach 
the  Indians  how  to  use  them  had  been  dismissed  from  office. 

Early  in  the  winter  I  had  called  on  Mr.  Hudson  E.  Bridge,  who  dealt  in 
stoves  and  also  plows,  as  was  then  the  custom — stoves  for  fall  trade  and 
plows  for  spring  ;  and  having  contracted  for  thirty-five  of  his  Carey-Jewett 
plows,  all  made  to  turn  the  furrow  to  the  right— 

"Mr.  Bridge,"  I  asked,  could  you  furnish  me  a  plow  like  these,  only 
made  to  turn  the  furrow  to  the  left  ?" 

"  I  suppose  we  could  ;  but,  really,  nobody  uses  that  kind  of  plow." 

"  No  matter  for  that.  I  was  raised  behind  a  lefthand  plow,  and  would'nt 
have  any  other  kind  on  the  place,  except  to  break  prairie  with  oxen,  so  that 
the  man  to  drive  (and  swear)  may  walk  on  the  unbroken  ground." 

Mr.  Bridge  evidently  regarded  me  as  a  little  odd,  but  made  my  plow  with 
the  rest.  But  so  totally  unfit  was  I  for  public  office,  that  I  purposely  paid 
for  my  own  plow  out  of  my  own  pocket,  instead  of  including  it  in  the  lot 
paid  for  by  the  government ;  and  this  derogatory  fact  must  have  gotten  to 
the  lugs  of  the  Indian  Bureau  :  for  the  next  fall  I  was  required  to  get  new 
sureties  on  my  official  bond,  and  in  much  tribulation  came  down  to  St. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  185 

Louis,  intending  a  visit  to  Pennsylvania  to  fix  it  up,  when  Col.  David  D. 
Mitchell,  learning  the  facts,  very  kindly  said  he  would  "settle  all  that 
(blank)  nonsense,"  by  going  on  the  bond  himself;  a  kindness  with  a  great 
deal  of  Christianity  in  it. 

Samuel  Gaty  had  started  in  St.  Louis  the  first  foundry  for  general  cast 
ings,  and  the  first  machine  shop,  west  of  the  Mississippi  fifty-five  years 
ago ;  and  Hudson  E.  Bridge  made  the  first  stoves  west  of  the  Mississippi 
in  1837.  Both  were  industrial  pioneers,  and  their  names  ought  to  be  on  a 
roll  of  honor,  as  among  our  true  nobility.  The  part  taken  by  each  in  large 
enterprises  benficial  to  St.  Louis  and  the  west,  would  if  detailed  fill  a 
volume. 

When  our  rplows  were  delivered  at  Council  Bluffs  in  April  by  the  Fur 
Company's  boat  on  its  way  to  the  Mountains,  the  Indians  detected  the  dif 
ference  between  theirs  and  mine,  and  supposed  some  '  great  medicine '  was 
involved.  They  walked  round  my  plow,  looked  at  it  on  every  side,  and 
gabbled  over  it  with  many  a  '  Wah  !-ty-yah!'  which  in  a  free  translation 
may  be  rendered—'  What  the  deuce  does  all  this  mean  !' 

About  the  first  of  May,  Nahum  Bent,  an  Ohio  farmer  of  mature  years 
who  had  settled  on  the  Nodaway  in  Missouri,  came  up  to  get  a  permit  to 
drive  in  a  few  cattle  for  sale  to  the  Indians.  I  was  using  my  new  plow  to 
stir  the  ground  broken  the  year  before,  and  Mr.  Bent  *  lighted  down ;  for 
a  chat.  He  had  heard  of  lefthand  plows,  though  he  had  never  seen  one ; 
but  as  I  at  once  granted  the  desired  permit  he  was  polite  enough  to  concede 
that  my  plow  might  after  all  do  as  well  as  if  it  turned  the  soil  over  the 
other  way. 

"  Certainly,  Mr.  Bent,  but  all  depends  on  the  planting.  I  must  plant  as 
soon  as  I  can." 

"Well,  yes — I  reckon  it's  about  time." 

"Time?— Why,  if  I  don't  get  my  seed  in  next  week  I  must  wait  till 
about  the  first  of  June." 

'•  Going  away,  Major?" 

11  Not  at  all  •  but  don't  you  see  ?  It  will  be  the  dark  of  the  moon  week 
after  next." 

"  The  dark  of  the  moon  ?" 

"To  be  sure ;  and  it  will  never  do  to  plant  corn  then." 

"  Why,  Major,  what  has  the  moon  got  to  do  with  it  ?" 

"  Every  thing,  Mr.  Bent.  A  Pennsylvania  farmer  never  plants  corn  in 
the  dark  of  the  moon,  or  potatoes  in  the  light.  They  go  by  the  Almanac 
altogether,  and  always  use  a  lefthand  plow." 

"  Well— well— well— if  I  ever  heard  of  that  before !" 

"  True,  though,  and  just  wait  till  you  see  the  corn  I'll  have,  using  a  left- 
hand  plow  and  planting  in  the  light  of  the  moon." 

Sure  enough — the  field  being  where  the  fertility  from  the  bluffs  and  the 
little  valley  had  been  deposited  for  centuries,  and  the  prairie  sod,  broken  the 
year  before,  well  rotted — the  corn  grew  and  eared  out  amazingly  ;  and  when 


186  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEAKS. 

Mr.  Bent  came  up  to  the  annuity  payment  in  the  latter  end  of  August,  he 
was  converted  to  the  lefthand  plow  doctrine,  and  the  absolute  necessity  of 
always  planting-  corn  in  the  light  of  the  moon.  After  the  payment  was  over 
the  Chiefs  held  a  council  to  discuss  the  wonderful  corn,  and  after  being  told 
that  I  had  grown  up  among  the  best  farmers  in  the  world,  who  always  used 
lefthand  plows,  and  always  planted  things  which  make  their  product  under 
ground  in  the  dark,  and  things,  like  corn,  which  produce  above  ground,  in 
the  light  of  the  moon,  they  went  to  their  wigwams  very  much  wiser  than 
they  came ;  all  of  one  mind,  that  if  they  ever  had  any  ground  broken  it 
should  be  stirred  with  lefthand  plows,  and  not  a  hill  of  corn  should  be 
planted  save  in  the  right  phase  of  the  moon.  The  sincerity  of  this  resolve 
could  not  be  doubted,  as  I  believe  they  never  attempted  to  use  the  right- 
hand  plows  I  had  bought  of  Mr.  Bridge. 

Little  John  D.'s  mother  went  back  to  Pennsylvania  in  September,  taking 
that  adorable  child  along.  I  was  alone  in  my  cottonwood  mansion  for  the 
winter,  going  a  quarter  of  a  mile  for  meals  ;  and  except  for  thoughts  of 
loved  ones  far  away  it  was  one  of  the  happiest  winters  of  my  life.  There  is 
a  wonderful  charm  in  solitude,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  the  '  mountain 
men,7  as  we  used  to  call  them,  were  so  restless  when  returned  to  civilization. 
They  were  cramped  by  the  restraints  of  orderly  life,  and  missed  the  free  air 
of  the  plains  and  mountains.  It  is  so  easy,  so  natural  to  deteriorate,  that  if 
there  had  been  no  ties  of  kindred,  affection  and  duty,  I  might  possibly  have 
remained  in  the  wilderness.  True,  my  solitude  was  not  very  perfect.  I  had 
the  traders  to  visit,  the  mill  and  smithshop  to  look  after,  and  had  excellent 
companions  in  books,  which  never  intruded  their  chatter  upon  me,  but  only 
spoke  when  I  wished  them  to  do  so.  Our  mail  facilities  had  been  greatly 
improved,  for  whereas,  in  1843,  Jamestown,  our  post  office,  was  about  130 
miles  distant,  we  had  in  1844  an  office  at  our  very  doc-r,  as  it  seemed,  down 
at  the  Nishnabotna  Ferry,  only  about  60  miles  away  ;  and  there  the  mail 
arrived  on  horseback  once  a  week  if  nothing  happened  to  detain  it,  and 
brought  letters  at  25  cents  each  for  postage.  We  paid  for  our  letters  on 
delivery,  if  the  sender  did  not  recklessly  pay  in  advance.  The  regular  rate 
of  postage  on  letters  for  long  distances  was  25  cents  for  each  sheet.  Enve 
lopes  had  not  come  into  use.  We  folded  our  letter  so  as  to  conceal  the 
writing,  and  leave  a  blank  space  for  the  address.  It  looks  hard — 25  cents 
for  a  letter— but  we  had  never  had  them  cheaper,  and  did  not  really  know 
how  wretched  our  fate  was. 

My  greatest  enjoyment  in  solitude  was  vocal  and  instrumental  music. 
My  voice  was  powerful,  and  in  its  way  excellent,  but  I  had  discovered  that 
the  ears  of  other  persons  were  not  so  constituted  as  to  enjoy  it,  and  I  could 
only  sing  to  advantage  when  alone ;  always  excepting  the  happy  days  of 
the  log  cabin  election  campaign  of  1840,  when  strength  of  lungs  had  due 
appreciation,  and  nobody  was  fastidious  about  tune  or  tone.  The  flute,  too, 
was  a  great  solace  in  my  lone  cabin,  and  I  enjoyed  my  toots  on  it  more  than 
ever  Paganini  did  his  one-string  performance  on  the  fiddle.  The  Star  Span- 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  187 

gled  Banner,  Yankee  Doodle,  Oft  in  the  Stilly  Night,  and  other  tunes  proper 
to  heroic  as  well  as  sentimental  verses,  were  rendered  in  a  manner  never 
excelled  in  originality,  and  with  variations  that  would  have  astonished  the 
composers  if  within  hearing.  That  my  music  had  power  was  proved  one 
mild  winter  day,  when  I  had  stepped  to  the  porch,  and  had  just  begun 
Yankee  Doodle  on  the  flute,  a'nd  as  I  turned  my  head  round  to  look  over  to 
the  'Maha  bluffs,  a  large  gray  wolf  stood  about  twenty  yards  from  the 
corner  of  the  house,  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  me  and  his  ears  open  to  the 
stirring  notes  of  the  revolutionary  tune.  I  played  away,  and  the  auditor 
listened  for  quite  a  while  ;  but  I  have  never  been  able  to  decide  whether  he 
was  arrested  by  genuine  admiration  or  intense  astonishment. 

Having  visited  St.  Louis  in  the  spring  of  1845,  to  meet  little  John  D.,  his 
mother  and  his  aunt,  and  his  wee  sister  that  I  had  not  yet  seen— all  coming 
from  Pennsylvania — I  had  some  leisure  and  took  a  trip  on  the  Steamboat 
Hibernian,  Capt.  Miller,  to  that  queer  town,  Galena,  which  Reub.  Hildreth 
had  described  to  me  as  "  the  most  comical  looking  place  ever  seen  any 
where.''  It  was  then  a  very  lively  town,  had  a  large  interior  trade,  and 
shipped  lead  and  other  products  of  the  country.  As  I  had  two  ruling 
infirmities — to  write  for  the  journals  and  to  regulate  public  affairs  on  paper 
— I  wrote  up  a  log  of  our  voyage  for  the  St.  Louis  Reveille,  and  did  justice 
to  the  captain  of  our  boat,  who  thought  it  a  rather  tame  business  to  navi 
gate  the  Upper  Mississippi,  but  was  proud  to  have  once  had  a  boat  in  the 
perilous  Missouri.  The  navigation  of  the  latter  stream,  he  thought,  had  a 
dash  of  heroism  in  it.  The  constant  peril,  he  said,  developed  the  highest 
qualities  of  a  Steamboat  Captain.  That  so  few  accidents  causing  loss  of  life 
should  occur,  considering  the  number  of  boats  then  on  the  Missouri,  was 
really  remarkable,  he  said ;  and  in  this  I  heartily  concurred.  Had  I  not 
been  on  boats  commanded  by  Roe,  Sire  Throckmorton,  Atchison,  and  their 
compeers  ;  and  had  I  not  been  up  in  the  pilot  house  with  Joseph  LaBarge, 
Elisha  Fine,  and  other  gentlemen  of  the  wheel,  who  knew  where  every 
sand  bar  had  ever  been,  and  where  the  next  one  would  form,  and  could 
almost  call  the  snags  by  name?  Had  I  not  known  Uncle  Davy,  and  was  I 
not  on  the  boat  once,  with  him  at  the  wheel,  coming  down  stream,  heading 
straight  for  a  sand  bar  ?  Was  I  not  sure  something  would  happen,  as  I  saw- 
but  small  chance  to  get  through  the  bunch  of  snags  off  to  the  starboard  of 
our  course  ?  And  did  not  something  happen  ?  Did  not  Uncle  Davy  '  let  her 
nose  run  right  into  the  sand  bar,'  when,  as  he  intended,  her  stern  swung 
round,  and  she  actually  backed  through  the  only  passage  practicable,  but 
which  could  have  been  reached  in  no  other  way?  Yes,  I  have  seen  skillful 
and  heroic  work  with  steamboats  on  the  Missouri,  but  only  Captains  Joseph 
and  John  LaBarge  and  Joseph  E.  Gorman  survive  to  attest  my  tale. 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  Mormon  excitement  in  1845,  and  as  there  were 
several  Mormons  on  the  Hibernian,  the  peculiarities  of  the  *  chosen  people' 
were  discussed.  The  '  spiritual  wife  '  system  of  the  Prophet,  Joseph  Smith, 
was  much  commented  on,  but  the  Mormons  denied  that  there  was  any  such 


188  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

system  at  all ;  and  one  lively  dame  of  about  three  score  and  five  declared 
that  she  did  not  believe  a  word  of  it — "for  I'm  sure,"  she  said,  "Joseph 
never  hinted  any  thing  of  the  kind  to  me."  The  system  has  since  matured 
into  polygamy  on  a  grand  scale. 

In  the  way  of  aiding  to  regulate  big  matters  not  of  personal  concern  to 
myself,  I  wrote  in  my  '  Log '  and  put  in  the  St.  Louis  Reveille  a  paragraph 
on  Iowa : 

"  At  Fort  Madison  and  Burlington  we  found  the  recent  rejection  by  the 
people  of  the  Constitution  of  Iowa  the  most  prominent  subject  of  discussion. 
The  Constitution  was  objected  to  by  some  on  account  of  its  radical  features — 
by  some  on  account  of  the  limit  to  the  boundaries  proposed  by  Congress — by 
others  on  both  these  grounds — and  by  others  again  on  the  narrow  considera 
tion  that  they  did  not  desire  to  assume  the  burden  of  a  state  government, 
but  wished  to  depend  on  Uncle  Sam  a  little  longer.  We  found  the  politi 
cians  exceedingly  sore  under  the  rejection,  as  it  deranged  all  the  little  plans 
of  ambition  which  they  intended  to  put  in  operation  under  the  State  gov- 
.ernment.  It  was  certainly  an  error  in  Congress  to  cut  Iowa  off  from  the 
Missouri  river.  The  northern  territory  should  have  been  selected  for  the 
shears.  It  seems  to  me  that  a  good  boundary  could  be  obtained  by  starting 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Des  Moines  river ;  thence  up  the  Mississippi  to  the  43rd 
parallel  of  latitude ;  thence  west  along  said  parallel  to  the  Little  Sioux 
river ;  thence  down  the  Little  Sioux  river  to  the  Missouri ;  down  the  Mis 
souri  to  the  northwest  corner  of  this  state  (Missouri) ;  thence  along  the 
north  line  of  this  state  to  the  Des  Moines  river,  and  down  that  river  to  the 
place  of  beginning.  This  would  give  the  state  a  large  territory  and  con 
venient  boundaries ;  and  if  the  question  were  to  be  decided  by  practical 
men,  well  acquainted  with  all  the  country  included  within  these  limits,  they 
would  be  adopted  unanimously." 

In  a  volunteer  editorial  written  for  the  St.  Louis  Republican,  and  printed 
in  that  paper  April  9,  1845,  I  had  said  : 

"  It  is  known  that  Iowa  is  shorn  of  the  limits  claimed  by  her  convention, 
by  the  act  of  Congress  providing  for  her  admission  as  a  state.  *  *  *  An 
error  has  been  committed  by  Congress  in  regard  to  the  western  boundary. 
Cutting  her  off  from  the  Missouri  river  can  answer  no  purpose  of  immediate 
good,  nor  do  we  see  any  ulterior  advantage  of  general  or  local  interest,  to 
sustain  the  decision  of  Congress.  The  members  of  that  body  seem  to  have 
acted  under  a  misapprehension  of  the  character  of  the  district  cut  off.  It 
was  supposed  that  by  running  the  west  line  of  Iowa  on  a  longitudinal  line 
considerably  east  of  the  Missouri  a  strip  of  country  would  be  left  bordering 
on  the  river  of  sufficient  magnitude  and  resources  to  justify  the  organization 
of  a  new  territory  at  an  early  day  and  ultimately  a  new  state  ;  but  such  is 
not  the  fact.  The  country  is  sufficient,  if  the  Indian  title  were  extinguished, 
to  afford,  perhaps,  three  counties,  but  scarcely  more.  We  base  this  opinion 
on  the  resources  rather  than  the  extent  of  the  excluded  district.  Its  soil  is 
mainly  of  excellent  quality,  but  the  scarcity  of  timber  and  materials  for 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY    FEARS.  189 

building  is  so  great  as  to  preclude  all  idea  of  dense  settlements  ;  rock  is 
scarcer  than  timber,  and.  much  of  the  country  must  remain  open  prairie  for 
many  years,  as  the  constant  burnings,  which  it  is  impossible  to  check,  pre 
vent  the  growth  of  forests.  If  this  country  were  included  within  the  limits 
of  Iowa,  and  the  five  million  acres  held  by  the  Pottawatamie  Indians,  pur 
chased,  (as  we  anticipate  will  soon  be  the  case  under  the  policy  of  the  Indian 
Department,)  the  whole  of  it  to  the  Little  Sioux  river  would  no  doubt  soon 
be  settled  to  the  extent  of  its  capacity  ;  and  the  people  of  Iowa  would  thus 
have  an  outlet,  as  they  ought  to  have,  to  the  Missouri  river,  while  the  gen 
eral  government  would  be  saved  the  further  expense  of  organizing  a  new 
territorial  government  over  a  country  whose  resources  would  not  justify  it." 

In  my  annual  report  as  Indian  Sub  Agent  for  1844,  I  had  put  a  carefully 
written  paragraph  on  the  boundaries  which  the  proposed  state  of  Iowa 
ought  to  have,  giving  them  as  in  the  "  Log  of  the  Hibernian  ;  "  but  when  I 
went  to  Washington  in  October,  1845,  and  got  the  printed  documents,  I 
found  that  Mr.  T.  Hartley  Crawford,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  had 
stricken  out  this  useful  paragraph  and  all  other  matter  in  my  report  of  any., 
value,  and  had  only  printed  the  customary  sentimental  bosh  about  Indians 
that  all  agents  were  expected  to  re-hash  at  least  once  a  year.  I  had  along 
my  original  manuscript  report  and  at  once  copied  the  paragraph  on  Iowa 
and  enclosed  it  in  a  letter  to  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  then  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Territories  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  telling  him  how 
the  proposed  state  ought  in  my  opinion  to  be  bounded. 

Mr.  Douglas  saw  at  once  that  the  Commissioner  was  wrong  and  that  I 
was  right.  He  acknowledged  the  receipt  of  my  letter,  with  a  request  to  call 
on  him;  and  thus  began  an  acquaintance  that  lasted  till  his  early  and 
lamented  death.  We  had  many  interviews  to  discuss  the  region  about 
Council  Bluffs,  and  he  assured  me  that  I  was  the  only  man  who  had  ever 
given  him  definite  and  practical  information  about  the  country  in  question. 
The  result  of  it  all  was  that  he  was  able  to  present  the  case  so  strongly  to 
his  committee,  that  the  bill  was  carried,  and  Iowa  got  her  boundaries  as  I 
had  sketched  them  in  my  emasculated  report,  and  in  the  newspapers,  except 
that  the  north  line  was  put  half  a  degree  further  up  than  I  had  proposed. 

Iowa  might  have  gotten  her  boundary  on  the  Missouri  if  I  had  never 
lived,  or  been  in  the  Indian  service,  but  she  probably  would  not  have  gotten 
it  so  soon,  and  possibly  might  never  have  had  it  at  all.  She  is  indebted  to- 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  myself,  and  as  surviving  partner,  I  have  a  right  to- 
collect  the  debts  due  the  firm.  She  owes  us  a  twin  statue  of  gold  (join  Jem  like 
Chang  and  Eng)  an  hundred  feet  high,  and  large  in  proportion ;  but  I  would 
be  satisfied  to  knock  off  ninety-nine  feet,  provided  both  the  twins  are  cast 
rather  chunky,  and  the  heads  modeled  after  that  of  Mr.  Douglas. 

All  this  is  not  told  as  a  toot  of  my  own  horn,  but  to  show — 1st,  what 
Stephen  and  I  did  for  Iowa ;  2nd,  to  remind  the  state,  now  so  rich,  of  an 
honest  debt  she  has  never  acknowledged  ;  and  3rd,  to  show  how  mistaken 
we  may  have  been  after  all,  looking  to  the  general  interests  of  the  west.. 


190  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

The  line  of  Iowa  might  well  have  been  put  on  the  divide  between  the  Mis 
sissippi  and  Missouri  rivers,  with  her  north  line  half  a  degree  above  where 
it  is  now  ;  and  the  area  thus  given  her  would  have  made  a  splendid  state. 
Another  good  state  could  have  been  made  west  of  her,  taking  in  some  of  the 
country  on  the  other  side  of  the  Missouri ;  and  still  another  state  could,  in 
time,  have  been  made  in  the  plains  beyond.  These  three  states  would  have 
given  us  six  votes  in  the  Senate,  instead  of  the  four  we  now  have  from  Iowa 
and  Nebraska. 

But  at  the  time,  nobody  valued  rightly  the  region  about  Council  Bluffs ; 
nobody  anticipated  the  future  of  the  Pottawatamie  domain  in  Southwest 
Iowa,  or  of  the  wilderness  over  the  river.  Of  the  former  I  had  written  that 
its  soil  was  excellent,  but  that  the  scarcity  of  timber  and  materials  for  build 
ing,  (rock  being  scarcer  even  than  timber,)  was  so  great  as  "to  preclude  all 
idea  of  dense  settlements."  This  was  a  correct  enough  view  at  the  time,  as 
no  one  looked  forward  to  trains  of  cars  bringing  lumber  across  Iowa  from 
Michigan,  or  up  from  Missouri  or  Arkansas.  I  had  said  that  "  much  of  the 
country  must  remain  open  prairie  for  many  years,  as  the  constant  burnings, 
which  It  is  impossible  to  check,  prevent  the  growth  of  forests."  In  this  sen 
tence  the  continuance,  if  not  the  origin,  of  the  Iowa  prairies  was  accounted 
for,  though  learned  philosophers  had  undertaken  to  explain  them  by  theo 
ries  harder  to  comprehend  than  the  prairies  themselves.  I  had  also,  in  this 
brief  passage,  back  in  1845,  substantially  asserted  the  practicability  of  GROW 
ING  FORESTS  ON  THE  GREAT  PLAINS,  as  unconscious  then  of  my  destiny  to 
be  a  tree  planter  on  them  twenty-five  years  later,  as  Ben.  Holliday  at 
"Weston,  and  Grant  at  Gravois  or  Galena,  ever  were  of  the  big  work  in  store 
for  each. 

Then  all  the  country  south  of  the  40th  parallel  of  latitude,  and  west  of 
Missouri  and  Arkansas,  away  down  to  Texas,  was  to  be  and  remain  a  home 
for  the  Indians  forever.  That  was  the  very  word — FOREVER.  Douglas  used 
it.  We  all  used  it.  And  not  a  solitary  man  in  1845  realized  that  it  meant 
less  than  half  a  score  of  years. 

North  of  the  40th  parallel  of  latitude,  Mr.  Douglas  wanted  a  strip  of 
country  opened  up  from  the  Missouri  westward,  mainly  for  a  wagon  road 
along  the  Platte  Valley  for  emigrants  to  Oregon.  He  had  introduced  a  bill 
for  that  purpose,  and  in  a  letter  to  me  said  :  "  I  am  glad  that  we  agree  upon 
the  policy  and  propriety  of  the  Nebraska  Territory,  and  shall  be  happy  of 
the  aid  of  your  pen  to  obviate  objections  and  place  the  subject  properly 
before  the  country.  The  point  to  be  kept  prominently  in  view  is,  that  it  is 

THE  GREAT  NATIONAL  HIGHWAY  TO  THE  PACIFIC."      I  quote   this   to  show 

that  a  mind  even  so  comprehensive  as  that  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  was  in 
December,  1845,  only  exercised  to  provide  a  WAGON  ROAD  up  the  Platte  or 
Nebraska  river  for  overland  travel.  California  was  then  Mexican  territory, 
and  his  ''  national  highway  "  was  intended  only  for  Oregon.  Unfortunately 
he  was  even  in  this  too  far  in  advance  of  others,  and  the  bill  failed.  Had  it 
become  a  law,  the  complications  arising  out  of  the  '  Kansas-Nebraska  bill ' 
of  1854  might  never  have  disturbed  the  public  peace. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  191 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

UP  THE  MISSOURI  —  JUPITERS  AND  LEGISLATORS  —  DOGGEREL  LINES  —  CAPT. 
SIRE'S  GUEST,  MONSIEUR  LE  COMTE —  TROUBLE  WITH  CHINCES  —  PERILS 
FROM  SNAGS  —  POINT  AUX  POULES  —  THE  MORMONS  —  SCHOOL  OP  HY 
DRAULIC  ENGINEERING  —  THE  MISSOURI  AND  ITS  TASK  —  LIKE  THE  MISSIS 
SIPPI—HOW  TO  IMPROVE  THE  NAVIGATION  — BARGES  FROM  OMAHA  TO 
PORT  EADS. 

We  were  fortunate  in  the  spring  of  1845  to  get  up  to  the  *  Bluffs '  on  the 
steamboat  General  Brooke,  on  her  way  to  the  Mountains,  Capt.  Joseph  A. 
Sire  in  command  ;  the  u  we"  being  John  D.,  his  wee  sister,  his  mother,  his 
aunt,  and  myself.  It  was  the  same  General  Brooke  that  I  had  gone  up  the 
river  on  in  November,  1844,  Capt.  Throckmorton  on  deck  and  Joseph  E. 
Gorman  in  the  office ;  with  dignitaries  of  the  Missouri  Legislature  on  board, 
and  also  some  of  those  who  had  helped  to  make  them.  The  latter  were  the 
Jupiters  who  flashed  lightning  on  us  daily,  and  forged  editorial  thunder 
bolts.  We  left  the  Jupiters,  and  the  packages  of  legislative  wisdom — James 
H.  Lucas,  Willis  L.  Williams  and  others — at  Jefferson  City,  and  I  went  on  to 
Weston  ;  leaving  Jno.W.  Reid  at  Independence  Landing,  undreaming  of  Bra- 
zito,  Sacramento,  or  Mexican  cannon  balls.  Willis  L.  Williams  attracted  my 
hearty  good  will,  his  hobby  being  reform  in  the  laws  regarding  the  property 
rights  of  married  women ;  but  I  have  forgotten  whether  he  accomplished 
anything  for  them  or  not.  Samuel  Treat,  now  the  grave  Judge  of  the 
United  States  Court  in  St.  Louis,  had  more  thought  then  of  slashing  edi 
torials  (not  excelled  now-a-days,  My  Young  Friend,)  than  he  had  of  judicial 
decisions,  never  to  be  overruled  in  any  case  of  importance ;  but  fortunately 
for  Jurisprudence  the  '  woolsack  '  won  him  from  the  '  tripod  '  —  if  they  ever 
had  a  '  tripod  '  in  Shadrack  Penn's  old  St.  Louis  Reporter  office.  The  cars 
now  whirl  the  Legislators  in  a  few  hours  from  St.  Louis  to  Jefferson ;  but 
there  are  no  journeys  so  pleasant  and  profitable,  and  with  so  much  wit  and 
wisdom  abroad,  as  ours  on  the  old  General  Brooke.  The  only  weakness  I 
ever  knew  of  His  Honor  was,  that  he  thought  my  doggerel  '  Letter  from  an 
Ancient  Mariner,'  giving  some  account  of  the  trip,  worth  reading.  Perhaps 
I  might  trust  the  Court  to  overrule  demurrers  and  give  some  of  the  verses  ; 
but  a  few  lines  will  suffice : 


192  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

"  We  had  a  CHAMBERS  too,  and  took  a  KNAPP 

On  board  (I  always  spell  it  with  a  K.j 
A  jovial  party  as  you  could  entrap 

At  such  a  time  to  start  from  home  away ; 
'Twas  quite  a  TREAT  to  have  another  chap 

Along— his  name  I  think  you'll  guess— you  may; 
Besides,  as  beautiful  and  lovely  maid  as 

Eye  e'er  hath  seen,  came  on  with  other  ladies." 

And  so  it  ran  on  for  a  column.  The  piece  was  a,jeu  dj  esprit,  well  under 
stood  at  the  time,  and  hence  its  appreciation  by  His  Honor  ;  but  the  hits 
now  touch  only  the  empty  air.  Adam  B.  Chambers,  long  one  of  the  editors 
of  the  Republican,  departed  this  life  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  and  few  are 
left  who  knew  him  or  his  personal  worth  and  great  public  services.  I  only 
know  of  Judge  Samuel  Treat,  Col.  George  Knapp,  Capt.  Joseph  E.  Gorman, 
and  myself,  as  survivors  of  that  voyage  in  November,  1844. 

[While  reading  proof  of  the  foregoing  paragraph,  the  sad  intelligence 
came  that  Col.  Knapp,  who  had  gone  abroad  in  the  hope  of  benefit  to  his 
health,  had  died  at  sea  on  the  homeward  voyage,  September  18,  1883.  No 
eulogy  of  mine  could  add  to  the  respect  in  which  his  memory  is  held  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley.] 

Our  trip  in  1845,  with  Capt.  Sire  on  deck,  had  no  legislative  wisdom  on 
board,  nor  press-gang.  The  only  writer  for  the  public  was  the  f!e  facto 
Major  and  dejure  Colonel,  myself.  But  Captain  Sire  had  a  guest  of  distin 
guished  lineage,  on  a  tour  to  the  Mountains.  This  was  Monsieur  le  Comte 
d'Outrante,  son  of  Fouch^,  Bonaparte's  Chief  of  Police ;  but  as  I  had  not 
been  personally  acquainted  with  Fouche,  and  in  fact  knew  nothing  more  of 
him  than  I  had  learned  from  Sir  Walter's  Life  of  General  Bonaparte  (as  the 
British  Government,  with  amazing  absurdity,  persisted  in  styling  the  Em 
peror,)  I  was  only  attracted  to  the  Count  by  his  genuine  bonhommie  and 
agreeable  manners.  His  father's  history  and  character  had  been  by  no 
means  admirable ;  but  never  have  I  travelled  with  a  stranger  more  sedulous 
than  the  Count  to  promote  every  one's  enjoyment ;  and  though  Capt.  Sire 
was  careful,  as  we  all  were,  always  to  address  his  high-rank  passenger  as 
'Monsieur  le  Comte,'  yet  nobody  would  have  guessed  from  his  deportment 
that  he  was  anything  more  than  an  unassuming  gentleman. 

We  were  about  the  mouth  of  Kaw  River,  one  morning,  when  the  Count 
addressed  John  D.'s  mother  and  aunt — 

"  Ze  Boogs,  Mesdames — you  'ave  ze  boogs  ? — eh  ? — non  ?  " 

"  Books?  "  inquiringly  from  the  matron. 

"Books,  Monsieur  le  Comte?"  from  the  aunt. 

"  Oui — yes— Mesdames — ze  boogs.  Nevaire  Je — I — 'ave  ze  many  boogs, 
like  on  zees  boat.  Non,  non — nevaire !  " 

"  We  have  some,  Monsieur  le  Comte.  Ours  are  in  the  trunks,  as  we  did 
not  care  to  use  them." 

"Ah — oui — yes — in  ze  troonks.  Zat  ees  so.  Zees  boogs  will  be  in  ze 
troonks— diable ! " 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  193 

"Our  books  are  in  English,  Monsieur  le  Comte,1'  continued  John  D.'s 
aunt.  "  You  read  English,  I  suppose?  But  if  yours  are  French  we  could 
not  read  them ;  but  thank  you  very  much  ;  very  much  indeed." 

"Ah!  Ma'm'selle — you  me  not  comprend.  It  ees  not  as  you  zinks — not 
zees," — taking  a  small  volume  from  his  pocket — "  it  is  ze  leetl'  what  you  zay 
— in  ze  chambre — million — oui — million  !  " 

Light  broke  suddenly  on  the  minds  of  the  puzzled  ladies — they  looked  at 
each  other,  and  with  one  impulse  whispered — 

"Chinees!  " 

That  was  our  polite  name  in  Pennsylvania  for  the  insects  which  had 
annoyed  the  good  count ;  a  name  that  has  come  down  from  the  decorous 
days  when  piano  legs  were  arrayed  in  pantalets,  and  no  one  would  have 
risked  the  cold  shoulder  of  good  society  so  far  as  to  say  *  bed  bugs.'  It  was 
a  fastidious  age,  but  perhaps  as  safe  as  the  present  more  '  free  and  easy ' 
modes. 

The  Count  had  evidently  seen  a  great  deal  of  the  world,  but  never  a 
stream  like  the  Missouri,  with  its  muddy  current,  snags  and  sawyers.  The 
snags  kept  him  in  constant  excitement.  They  looked  fearful  to  unaccus 
tomed  eyes,  and  every  nest  of  them  was  an  object  of  interest  if  not  terror 
to  the  polite  Frenchman.  Of  course  we  talked  a  great  deal  about  snags, 
and  the  perils  of  navigation,  and  little  John  D.,  listening,  was  convinced 
that  snags  were  dreadful  things,  though  he  had  no  very  clear  idea  of  what 
they  were. 

"Oh,  Mother  !  Mother  ! "  he  squalled,  running  out  to  the  guard,  where 
we  were  all  admiring  the  grassy  slopes  of  the  prairies  in  the  region  of  the 
Nemahas — "  she's  got  a  snag  ! — she's  got  a  snag !  " 

His  mother  and  aunt  hurried  to  the  cabin,  and  found  the  daughter  of 
Peerish  Le  Claire  in  convulsions  on  the  floor,  while  the  excited  child  kept 
up  his  exclamations — "  She's  got  a  snag ! — she's  got  a  snag !  "  The  sufferer 
was  a  three-quarter  Indian  girl,  who  had  been  at  the  Convent  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  in  St.  Louis  to  be  educated,  and  was  returning  home  under 
the  particular  care  of  Capt.  Sire.  Handsome  and  graceful,  and  the  daughter 
of  a  Chief,  she  was  of  course  treated  with  politeness ;  but  being  unfortu 
nately  subject  to  epileptic  attacks,  the  novelty  and  excitement  of  so  much 
attention  from  the  Captain  and  his  distinguished  guest  had  kept  her  in  a 
nervous  condition  calculated  to  bring  on  the  dreaded  spasms.  Hence  the 
alarm  of  little  John  D.,  and  the  fearful  cry  which  summoned  assistance. 

Capt.  Sire  and  the  steward  were  soon  at  hand,  and  while  they  were  try 
ing,  with  the  help  of  the  ladies,  to  restore  the  struggling  girl,  by  the  appli 
cation  of  a  wet  towel  to  her  forehead,  and  other  remedies,  the  amiable  Count 
of  Otranto  (as  his  name  ran  in  our  vernacular),  was  doing  his  best  to  quiet 
the  agitated  boy. 

"  It  ees  not  ze  snag,  mon  fils,  zat  'ave  troub'  ze  Ma'm'selle.  Non,  non,  it 
ees  not  ze  snag.  Ze  snag  not  in  ze  boat,  mon  enfant.  Ze  snag  tout  in  ze 
riviere — voila !  Nevaire  ze  snag  troub'  ze  ladee !  " 


194  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

And  when  the  excitement  had  quieted  down,  on  Miss  Le  Claire's  revival 
and  retirement  to  her  stateroom,  and  the  Count  and  I  were  seated  with  our 
cigars  on  the  guard,  he  said  to  me — 

"It  ees  ver'  terrib',  Monsieur,  when  1'enfaiit  say  ze  snag !  Je  'ave  fear 
he  ees  in  ze  boat.  Mais,  non — non.  It  ees  not  ze  snag  zat  make  seek  ze 
Ma'm'selle.  Monsieur  le  Capitaine,  he  tell  me  ze  snag  not  nevaire  come  in 
hee's  boat!" 

The  General  Brooke  landed  us  safely  and  went  on  her  way  up  the  long 
hill  to  the  Yellowstone;  but  we  never  again  saw  the  amiable  Count,  or 
heard  how  he  got  on  with  the  '  boogs.' 

Our  home  in  1845  was  at  Point-aux-Poules,  or  Chicken  Point,  near  the 
bank  of  the  Missouri,  opposite  Belvue.  I  had  sold  my  house  at  the  base  of 
the  fantastic  hills,  where  the  modern  city  of  Council  Bluffs  long  since 
destroyed  rny  old  cornfield,  or  what  was  left  of  it  after  the  Mormons  had 
departed.  The  Saints  began  to  gather  at  the  mouth  of  the  little  valley  late 
in  1845,  (as  Illinois  had  got  too  hot  for  them,)  and  called  the  place  Kanes- 
ville,  or  '  Winter  Quarters,'  as  you  can  see  in  Mrs.  Ann  Eliza  Young's  book, 
written  after  she  ran  away  from  Brigham  because  he  had  a  dozen  and  a  half 
other  wives  in  advance  of  herself.  Fortunately  for  Iowa  the  Saints  did  not 
make  a  long  stay  on  her  fertile  soil,  but  nearly  all  went  on  westward  in 
1846. 

Chicken  Point,  where  the  traders  were  located,  was  the  most  convenient 
place  for  the  Agency,  and  I  could  buy  a  building  cheap  from  Peter  A.  Sarpy. 
The  only  question  was,  whether  it  would  stay  till  no  longer  needed.  The 
Indians  would  probably  leave  in  four  or  five  years. 

"  I  must  consider,  Mr.  Sarpy,  whether  the  building  will  last  long 
enough." 

"  Last,  Major?    It's  good  for  twenty  years.    Every  log  sound." 

lt  That's  not  the  point.  The  question  is,  how  soon  will  it  go  into  the 
river?" 

"  Into  the  river !    What  do  you  mean,  Major  ?  " 

"Only  this:  the  river  is  cutting  in  above,  and  may  possibly  take  the 
building  before  the  Indians  go." 

But  I  concluded  to  buy.  I  had  studied  the  action  of  the  Missouri,  and 
thought  I  could  tell  in  advance  what  it  would  do.  I  was  in  a  school  of  Civil 
Engineering,  with  the  river  as  tutor  and  Hydraulics  the  branch  taught. 
The  current  might  cut  away  Chicken  Point  in  three  years,  but  probably  not 
for  five  or  six.  I  never  knew  whether  the  building  finally  went  down  with 
the  caving  bank,  or  was  hauled  away  ;  but  the  Missouri  did  its  work  and 
vindicated  my  prophecy.  The  funniest  thing  about  the  whole  transaction 
was,  that  the  Indian  Bureau  at  Washington,  with  inscrutable  wisdom, 
would  never  allow  an  agency  house  to  be  provided,  until  measures  were 
in  train  to  treat  with  the  Indians  for  removal  to  another  '  permanent 
home !  " 

There  was  great  enjoyment  in  contemplating  the  Missouri.      It  was 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY    FEARS.  195 

always  in  its  soiled  work-a-day  clothes,  as  if  it  did  not  care  for  prince  or 
potentate,  but  was  only  intent  on  accomplishing  its  task,  which  was,  to 
tear  down  the  bank  011  one  side,  and  partly  deposit  the  stuff  on  the  other ; 
taking  some  of  it  further  along,  and  constantly  working  to  get  all  the  sand 
and  clay  down  towards  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  never  seemed  at  a  loss  or  to 
have  a  doubt  of  its  power,  but  had  a  self-satisfied  and  saucy  air  about  it, 
indicating  entire  confidence  in  itself,  and  appearing  to  challenge  the  ability 
of  any  mortal  man  to  control  it.  The  swaggering  old  thing  had,  however, 
to  do  its  work  out-o'-doors,  in  view  of  everybody,  and  I  soon  began  to  learn 
the  way  it  carried  on,  and  why  it  was  that  Joseph  La  Barge,  Elisha  Fine, 
and  the  other  practiced  Hydraulic  Engineers  up  in  the  pilot  houses  came  to 
understand  its  moods  and  manners  so  thoroughly.  And  I  never  dreamed, 
while  I  was  musing  there  on  the  river  bank,  or  up  with  the  pilots,  that  I 
was  developing  my  little  natural  gift  for  hydraulic  engineering,  and  culti 
vating  a  taste  for  the  science,  which  was  never  adequately  taught  in  schools 
or  institutes,  or  made  plain  to  all  comprehensions,  until  the  masterly  expo 
sitions  of  Mr.  Eads.  Yet  so  it  was.  If  John  Tyler  had  not  vetoed  the  bank 
bill,  and  if  the  Whigs  in  Pennsylvania  had  not  thrown  McCurdy  and  me 
overboard  because  we  were  honest,  I  never  should  have  been  in  the  Indian 
service  at  Council  Bluffs,  and  might  never  have  seen  the  Missouri,  or  writ 
ten  enough  about  that  stream  and  the  Mississippi  to  make  a  book  bigger 
than  the  pestiferous  Life  of  Dr.  Franklin,  which  fifty  years  ago  seduced  me 
from  the  vocation  of  an  '  honest  farmer.' 

I  studied  the  habits  of  the  Missouri — identically  those  of  the  Mississippi 
from  Wood  river  down,  save  in  the  more  impetuous  current  of  the  former, 
sweeping  and  tumbling  along  as  if  enraged  that  its  name  was  not  extended 
to  the  Delta,  by  right  of  the  fact  that  it  is  a  longer  and  more  adventurous 
stream  than  the  branch  in  cleaner  raiment  that  comes  to  meet  it  near  Alton, 
and  shrinks  away  to  the  eastern  bank,  overawed  by  the  majesty  of  the  flood 
from  the  distant  mountains.  More  than  three  thousand  miles  of  steamboat 
navigation  from  the  junction  of  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi  up  almost  to 
the  perpetual  snows  which  nourish  its  infancy,  tell  us  plainly  enough  that 
if  Marquette  had  seen  the  Missouri  first  it  would  never  have  lost  its  name 
till  it  hnd  reached  salt  water.  Then 

Afar  through  trackless  waste  and  solitude 
,  The  lone  Missouri  poured  a  turbid  flood; 

Where  all  was  wild,  and  primitive,  and  vast, 
And  save  a  thunder  peal,  or  hurtling  blast, 

Or  tramp  of  herd,  or  savage  man  all  wild 
Awoke  the  silence,  it  for  ages  past 

Else  slept  un woke  — and  Sabbath  had  not  smiled 
To  hear  God's  law  proclaimed  in  temple  undefiled. 

With  proper  measures  to  improve  the  navigation  of  the  Missouri,  and 
protect  the  lands  on  its  borders,  everybody  would  be  surprised  to  see  how 
soon  the  masterful  stream  would  answer  to  the  curb  and  rein ;  and  even  a 


196  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

flood  like  that  of  1844  would  not  seriously  impair  its  condition.  Some  old 
engineering  notions  would  be  exploded,  especially  the  venerable  dogma 
that  l  sediment-bearing  streams  are  the  most  difficult  to  control.'  All  you 
have  to  do  is  to  learn  what  nature  does,  and  then  imitate  her  works.  The 
result  of  all  would  be  that  five  or  six  thousand  tons  of  grain  in  barges  could 
in  one  tow  be  taken  from  Omaha  or  Yankton  to  New  Orleans,  or  better  yet 
perhaps  to  Port  Eads  ;  and  the  only  trouble  would  be  to  find  a  market  for  it. 
East  India  wheat— but  the  topic  is  not  pleasant. 


A  TRIBUTE 

TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  MATTHEW   O.  FIELD,  WHO  DIED  AT  SEA. 
(St.  Louis  Mevielle,  March,  1845.) 

How  deep— how  startling— is  the  knell 

At  midnight  swelling, 
AS  some  lone  chime  of  sacred  hell 

The  tale  is  tell  ing, 
That  all  our  hopes,  loves,  joys  and  friendship's  here 

Have  passed  another  year ! 

How  mournful,  too,  the  funeral  toll 

In  measured  sound, 
That  tells  us  some  departed  soul 

Hath  judgment  found,— 
Some  lov'd,  fond  parent,  brother,  sister,  friend, 

Hath  reached  life's  common  end! 

Yet  oh !  how  doubly  sad  the  trembling  tale 

From  ocean  borne — 
Of  distant  death— alone ;— and  grief's  low  wail 

O'er  those  we  mourn ! 
When  one  whom  we  (unknown)  admiring,  lov'd, 

Death's  terrors  all  hath  proved ! 

Oh  grave !  how  fearful  do  thy  triumphs  grow 

As  beauty's  bloom, 
And  youth,  and  hope,  and  all  that  love  may  know, 

Sink  to  the  tomb  !— 
Yet  death's  last  crowning  triumph  more  appals 

The  soul,  when  genius  f  alls ! 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  197 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

AN  AGREEABLE  VISITOR  —  MAJOR  HARVEY'S  FAILURE  IN  TREATY  MAKING  — 
CHIEFS  POW-WOWING  —  WAHBONSEH  DREAMS  OF  A  TRIP  TO  WASHINGTON 
—  THREE  OTHER  DREAMS  —  CHIEFS  IN  ST.  LOUIS  —  THE  OLD  STEAMBOAT 
CAPTAINS,  PILOTS  AND  CLERKS  —  HEALTHY  MISSOURI  WATER  —  ST.  LOUIS 
HAS  A  NEW  RESERVOIR — PHRENOLOGY  AND  MESMERISM  —  OVER  THE  AL- 
LEGHENIES  — A  RECEPTION— ME- AH-MIS  TALKS. 

One  August  day  in  1843,  a  tall,  slim  gentleman  made  up  to  my  lone 
cabin  in  the  (now)  city  of  Council  Bluffs, — where  I  sat  on  the  porch  with 
a  sort  of  Alexander  Selkirk  feeling  all  over  me— and  with  a  bow  to  the 
mane  of  his  pony  addressed  me— 

"  The  Agent,  I  presume?" 

There  was  something  so  refreshing  in  his  manner,  the  grace  of  which 
Chesterfield  himself  could  not  have  excelled,  up  there,  that  I  was  charmed, 
and  actually  got  on  my  legs  to  return  his  salute  and  acknowledge  my 
official  rank.  It  was  a  conservative  country,  and  folks  generally  did  not 
get  up  from  a  good  seat  when  they  could  help  it ;  but  with  all  the  suaviter 
in  modo  at  command  I  invited  the  stranger  to  'light  down  ;'  and  we  were 
soon  in  lively  chat.  Beyond  affairs  of  the  Agency  I  have  no  remembrance 
of  the  topics  discussed,  but  the  sun  was  far  down  towards  the  'Maha  hills 
before  he  took  leave.  To  meet  a  gentleman  so  full  of  information,  wit, 
humor  and  sprightly  anecdote  in  a  city  would  have  been  a  pleasure ;  but 
the  inspiration  of  his  presence  in  the  wilderness,  breaking  in  on  the  dull 
musing  of  an  idle  hour,  can  only  be  appreciated  by  some  old  citizen  of 
Indiana  who  knew  Senator  u  Wash.  Ewing."  We  became  friends  at  once, 
and  so  continued  till  his  death  ;  and  of  all  the  men  I  have  known  in  half 
a  century  I  have  never  met  his  superior  in  strong  sense,  wit,  humor,  fun, 
hard  work,  and  telling  a  good  story.  We  had  much  business  together  in 
Washington,  at  sundry  times  up  to  1849,  but  in  all  his  large  operations 
with  the  Indians — in  regard  to  which  I  was  one  of  his  legal  counsel — 
never  did  I  hear  from  his  lips  a  word  inconsistent  with  the  character  of  an 
honest  and  high-toned  business  man.  Such  was  the  character  of  one  of 
the  gentlemen,  who  as  '  Indian  traders,'  were  often  treated  by  the  Indian 
bureau  as  if  they  were  only  designing  scoundrels.  His  brother,  Wm.  G. 


198  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEAKS. 

Ewing,  was  in  sterling  worth  a  man  of  the  same  stamp,  but  was  not  given 
to  the  wit,  humor,  and  funny  narration  that  gave  a  charm  to  the  leisure 
of  George  W.  The  ex-Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Richard  W.  Thompson,  of 
Indiana,  can  bear  witness  to  the  unreasonable  action  in  old  times  of  the 
Indian  bureau  towards  the  gentlemen  I  have  named,  who  were  merchants 
on  a  large  scale,  having  stores  at  many  of  the  Indian  agencies.  There  may 
be  better  conduct  in  the  Indian  bureau  now ;  but  if  Indian  matters  are  man 
aged  with  common  sense,  and  a  due  regard  to  the  rights  of  the  Indians 
under  treaties,  as  well  as  the  rights  of  the  licensed  merchants,  the  change 
has  been  great  since  the  days  of  T.  Hartley  Crawford,  and  his  successor, 
Wm.  Medill,  as  Commissioners  of  Indian  Affairs.  I  have  mentioned  Col. 
Ewing,  because  he  aided  in  the  treaty  that  finally  gave  the  Pottawatamie 
country  to  the  State  of  Iowa. 

In  the  summer  of  1845,  Major  Thomas  H.  Harvey,  Superintendent  of 
Indian  Affairs  at  St.  Louis— civil  service  reform  having  rotated  Col.  D.  D. 
Mitchell  out  to  make  room  for  this  gentleman— came  up  to  my  domain  to 
make  a  treaty  with  the  Pottawatamies,  and  get  them  to  move  down  and 
join  their  relations  in  Kansas.  The  Indians  grunted,  '  ugh'd,'  and  objected. 
On  both  sides  fine  speeches  were  made,  but  nothing  came  of  the  discussion, 
and  Major  Harvey  had  to  go  back  without  even  the  draft  of  a  protocol,  sat 
isfied  that  the  Indians  were  not  disposed  to  sell  their  five  million  acres. 

But  hardly  had  the  fragrance  of  the  Superintendent's  dignified  presence 
exhaled  from  Chicken  Point,  before  I  noticed  mysterious  pow-wowing 
among  the  Chiefs.  Unusual  gravity  sat  on  their  bronzed  faces,  as  pipes 
were  handed  round,  and  by  signs  rather  than  words  something  important 
was  being  discussed.  Old  Me-ah-mis,  Chief  of  the  scantily-clad  gentlemen 
who  had  their  wigwams  on  the  head  streams  of  the  Nishnabotna,  lingered 
at  our  village  and  had  on  an  extra  weight  of  decorum  and  dignity.  Even 
the  jolly  Op-te-ke-shick,  or  Half-Day,  our  pompous  and  eloquent  orator, 
who,  when  not  engaged  in  grave  matters  of  business,  was  bubbling  over 
with  fun,  and  sputtering  Indian  wit  as  merrily  as  a  kettle  of  boiling  shirts 
can  sputter  on  washday,  had  neither  joke  nor  smile  for  anybody,  and  would 
even  pass  little  John  D.  without  the  customary  "  How  !-Nic-ccw  /"  It  was 
plain  that  something  was  in  the  air  beside  the  usual  odors  of  Chicken  Point, 
but  there  was  only  one  proper  way  for  me  to  discover  what  it  was  : — I  must 
wait. 

Soon  it  all  came  out.  They  had  not  been  averse  to  a  fair  treaty,  but  the 
stately  old  Wah-bon-seh,  with  the  snows  of  eighty  winters  on  his  head, 
had  *  dreamed '  that  Major  Harvey  was  but  a  little  Father  after  all  (six 
feet  and  over  in  his  stockings  though  he  was),  and  that  the  treaty  could 
only  be  properly  made  with  their  Great  Father  at  Washington.  It  was  a 
wonderful  revelation,  especially  as  his  dream  had  indicated  the  very  Chiefs 
who  were  to  be  in  the  mission  to  the  Capital— himself  among  them ;  and  he 
had  'dreamed'  again,  after  the  departure  of  Major  Harvey,  that  "  Cose- 
non  "  was  to  go  along  with  the  chiefs  as  their  guide,  philosopher  and  friend. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  199 

Then  a  remarkable  'dream'  came  into  my  noddle,  coinciding  in  the 
most  surprising  manner  with  that  of  Wah-bon-seh,  as  to  the  Washington 
visit;  and  in  a  second  'dream' — both  having  strangely  enough  occurred 
while  I  was  wide  awake — it  was  clearly  revealed  that  the  Chiefs,  out  of 
the  funds  of  the  tribe,  were  to  bear  all  expenses  and  pay  me  fifteen  hun 
dred  dollars  to  take  care  of  them  and  their  interests.  A  third  '  dream ' 
resulted  in  a  letter  to  Washington,  placing  my  office  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Secretary  of  War,  as  no  longer  needed.  Ever  since  these  apparently  super 
nal  revelations  I  have  been  disposed  to  regret  that  I  was  not  born  before  the 
time  of  Mahomet,  as  I  might  have  had  a  better  Koran  than  his  revealed  to 
me,  in  broad  daylight  and  with  both  eyes  open. 

Great  was  Major  Harvey's  surprise  when  we  arrived  in  St.  Louis — the 
Indians,  little  John  D.,  and  the  rest  of  us.  He  was  'glad  the  Chiefs  had 
come  to  make  the  treaty;'  but  Op-te-ke-shick,  in  a  speech  as  luminous  as 
one  of  Brother  Beecher's,  and  quite  as  convincing,  soon  undeceived  him ; 
and  old  Wah-bon-seh  orated  to  the  effect  that  they  had  no  light  up  in  their 
wigwams,  but  thought  they  would  possibly  be  able  to  see  the  dawn  of  a 
new  morning  if  they  could  look  on  the  big  face  of  their  Great  Father  at 
Washington. 

Our  voyage  down  on  the  Amaranth,  Capt.  George  W.  Atchison,  had 
been  pleasant,  but  I  have  forgotten  the  incidents,  except  that  in  a  snaggy 
bend  near  Iowa  Point  the  anchor  was  dropped,  and  after  the  boat  had 
swung  round,  a  hawser  coiled  on  the  capstan  was  made  fast  to  a  snag,  and 
she  was  let  down  to  safe  water.  The  hawser  was  reeled  off  the  capstan  as 
successfully  as  we  had  expected  to  reel  the  silk  off  our  cocoons  in  the  Morus 
Multicaulis  days  ;  when  the  two  men,  left  at  the  snag  with  the  yawl,  cast 
off  the  line  to  be  reeled  on  board,  and  we  headed  down  stream  again.  It 
was  all  very  simple,  after  we  saw  it  done,  and  I  mention  this  bit  of  steam- 
boating  under  difficulties  to  give  an  idea  of  the  expedients  necessary  on 
occasions  '  to  get  along'  in  bad  parts  of  the  river.  Not  meaning  to  dispar 
age  the  moderns,  let  me  say  that  our  steamboat  Captains,  Pilots  and  Clerks 
of  thirty-five  or  forty  years  ago  were  not  the  rude  and  reckless  characters 
many  innocent  people  have  supposed  them  to  have  been.  Intent  on  their 
duties,  they  often  had  little  time  to  entertain  talking  people,  but  I  think 
there  is  no  record  anywhere  of  so  many  perils  encountered  with  so  few  dis 
asters  as  in  old  days  in  the  Missouri  river. 

As  a  rule,  our  Captains  made  little  pretensions  to  'science,'  except  in 
taking  people  and  things  along  safely  ;  and  when  the  lady  with  the  note 
book  talked  so  learnedly  (as  a  lady  from  the  Atlantic  slope  ought),  and  hold 
ing  up  her  glass  at  dinner  was  curious  to  know  the  reason  why  the  Missouri 
water  was  considered  so  '  healthy,' — the  Captain's  reply  rather  surprised  me, 
as  an  original  view  of  that  fluid,  and  I  was  glad  the  lady  noted  it  down  as 
one  of  the  remarkable  facts  of  the  great  west,  which  I  suppose  went  into  her 
book  of  travels : 

"  Madam,"  replied  Captain  E.,  with  the  grace  and  suavity  proper  to  the 


200  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

host  at  head  of  table —  "  the  reason  is  well  understood  along  the  river.  The 
sand  in  the  water  scours  out  the  bowels,  and  the  more  one  drinks  of  it  the 
healthier  he  gets."  . 

Soon  little  John  D.,  his  wee  sister  and  the  ladies  whose  pleasure  it  was  to 
take  care  of  those  wonderful  children,  were  in  a  St.  Louis  dwelling,  and  the 
Chiefs,  Interpreters  and  myself  took  boat  for  Pittsburgh,  there  to  take  canal 
and  railroad  through  Pennsylvania  and  round  by  Baltimore  to  Washing 
ton.  As  I  was  pressed  for  time  in  St.  Louis,  I  could  not  get  up  to  the  reser 
voir  on  Ashley  street,  to  see  the  great  addition  made  to  it,  of  which  I  had 
read  in  the  Republican  that  it  was  actually  ' '  one  hundred  feet  each  way  by 
twelve  feet  deep,"  and  was  made  of  planks  "  caulked  and  pitched."  St. 
Louis  was  growing  so  rapidly  that  this  provision  for  increased  water  supply 
was  actually  necessary,  and  Peter  Brooks  was  complimented  very  highly  for 
his  skill  in  making  it. 

Never  a  more  decorous  party  than  my  Indians  on  the  steamboat,  but  not 
unsocial.  Op-te-ke-shick  would  even  try  to  talk  English  and  crack  jokes 
with  the  passengers ;  and  old  Wah-bon-seh  would  tell,  through  the  inter 
preter,  how  he  got  his  name,  when,  as  a  young  brave,  he  '  struck '  the  sleep 
ing  Osages.  It  was  a  nice  little  military  history,  and  the  snowy-headed  old 
Indian  felt  as  proud  of  his  feat  of  arms  as  any  general  who  ever  commanded 
thousands. 

Phrenology  and  Mesmerism  were  much  discussed  in  that  age,  and  one 
evening  in  the  ladies'  cabin,  as  we  paddled  up  the  Ohio,  there  was  a  gen 
eral  fumbling  of  heads  for  bumps  ;  a  model  head  in  plaster,  with  a  chart  on 
it,  serving  to  indicate  their  position ;  and  much  amusement  resulted  from 
the  reading  of  character  by  the  sense  of  touch,  as  the  blind  absorb  litera 
ture.  We  next  tried  Mesmerism,  or  Animal  Magnetism  as  it  ought  to  be 
called,  having  been  known  long  before  Mesmer  practised  it ;  and  in  due 
course  it  came  my  turn  to  make  a  trial.  I  had  scarcely  taken  my  seat  in 
front  of  a  lady  passenger  and  begun  the  proper  stare,  and  the  prescribed 
holding  of  her  hands,  and  the  passes  over  her  forehead  and  eyes,  when  the 
Chiefs,  whose  education  had  not  taken  in  the  '  great  medicine '  of  Mesmer, 
became  interested  in  the  unusual  proceedings.  The  feeling  of  heads  had 
puzzled  them,  as  we  were  evidently  not  engaged  (like  their  neighbors,  the 
Ottoes  across  the  Missouri)  in  any  search  for  entomological  specimens  ;  but 
the  holding  of  hands,  and  staring,  and  pawing  over  the  faces  and  arms  of 
the  ladies,  might  mean  unknown  calamities.  Nearer  and  nearer  they  drew, 
intent  to  witness  the  catastrophe,  when  the  subject,  having  gone  into  the 
Mesmeric  sleep,  I  turned  her  face  upward  aud  arranged  her  rigid  arms  as  if 
in  supplication,  much  to  the  astonishment  if  not  alarm  of  my  friends  of  the 
wilderness. 

"Wah! — ty — yah!"  exclaimed  the  sturdy  Me-ah-mis, — "  Cose-non/ — 
Che-moke-mon-quai !" 

Which  reads,  in  a  free  translation — "  Hello  ! — what  in  thunder  has  our 
father  been  doing  to  the  white  woman  !" 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  201 

The  passage  of  the  Alleghenies  actually  elicited  two  or  three  *  ughs  '  in 
acknowledgment  of  their  wonders  ;  the  Indians  never  having  been  among 
hills,  except  those  of  a  prairie  country,  which  one  can  only  see  by  going 
down  towards  the  streams.  The  little  locomotives  on  the  levels  of  the 
Portage  Railroad  were  not  regarded  as  of  much  consequence,  as  the  travel 
ers  had  all  seen  steamboats,  with  wheels  a  world  bigger  than  those  of  the 
locomotives,  and  they  had  learned  that  the  mysterious  force  of  steam  could 
turn  the  big  wheels  in  the  water ;  but  the  ropes  of  the  inclined  planes, 
moving  apparently  by  their  own  volition  and  hauling  us  up  the  long  hill, 
were  '  great  medicine  ' — '  ugh  !' 

It  was  a  great  treat  to  my  native  town  to  stop  a  day.  No  live  Indian 
had  been  seen  in  that  valley  for  unknown  years,  possibly  since  Logan  left ; 
and  we  had  a  *  reception.'  The  whole  town  came  to  see  us,  and  Andrew 
Parker  Jacob,  in  all  the  freshness,  hope  and  vigor  of  a  young  lawyer's  life, 
made  an  address,  to  which  Me-ah-mis  replied.  After  the  proper  compli 
ments  (for  our  Chiefs  were  all  gentlemen),  he  said  : 

"  My  Friends,  we  have  come  a  long  journey — 011  our  way  to  see  our  Great 
Father,  the  President.  Our  business  is  important.  We  have  left  our  homes, 
our  wives,  and  our  little  ones  to  attend  to  it  personally.  Our  Great  Father 
has  promised  that  justice  shall  be  done.  He  has  said  he  will  do  something 
for  us  at  the  proper  time.  The  proper  time  has  never  come  yet.  We  are 
going  to  try  to  find  out  when  it  will  come.  When  we  learn  that  we  will 
know  more  than  we  do  now  !" 

These  words  of  Me-ah-mis  tell  the  tale  of  a  great  deal  of  Indian  dissat 
isfaction,  which  has  in  many  cases  cost  the  lives  of  innocent  people.  The 
proper  time  was  never  observed.  As  Indian  agent,  I  found  it  impossible 
to  have  business  between  the  Indians  and  the  government  carried  on  in  a 
common  sense  way.  Congress  would  not  make  in  proper  time  the  appropri- 
tions  required  by  treaties  ;  and  the  Indian  bureau  delayed  the  annuities  in 
goods  and  money.  The  unbroken  rule  was,  that  these  would  not  arrive 
until  after  the  date  required  by  the  promises  of  the  United  States.  It  was 
often  exasperating  to  see  the  patient  and  simple  Pottawatamies  waiting  for 
the  '  payment,'  when  they  ought  to  have  been  on  their  annual  buffalo  hunt 
to  lay  in  a  supply  of  meat  for  the  winter.  It  was  no  doubt  the  destiny  of 
the  aborigines  to  fade  away — but  their  treatment  by  the  government  might 
as  well  have  been  honest  and  wise,  and  of  course  humane. 


202  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

AT  WASHINGTON— ELECTRO  MAGNETIC  TELEGRAPH— WHAT  HATH  GOD  WROUGHT 

—  DAGUERREOTYPES — INDIANS  TAKEN  OFF  —  FIRST  GALLERY  IN  ST.    LOUIS 

—  FITZGIBBON — INDIANS  AND  THE  PRESIDENT  —  OP-TE-KE-SHICK   THE  OR 
ATOR —  THE  HATCHET — AN  ATMOSPHERE  —  USE   OF  THE   PRESS. 

Fuller's  Hotel  at  Washington,  now  Willard's,  afforded  the  Pottawat- 
amies  ample  quarters.  Better  housed  than  ever  before,  they  took  it  all  as  a 
matter  of  course,  but  were  not  fussy  guests,  and  had  no  use  for  the  boot 
black.  Some  of  our  friends,  the  'traders,'  were  in  the  city,  of  whom  I 
remember  Col.  Geo.  W.  Ewing  and  Capt.  Joseph  A.  Sire.  The  Indians 
were  in  debt  to  these  gentlemen,  and  if  a  treaty  was  to  be  made,  it  was  well 
enough  for  the  rights  of  all  to  be  looked  after ;  and  the  Chiefs  were  very 
much  gratified  to  have  their  friends  present,  although  the  sapient  Indian 
bureau  regarded  the  merchants  who  had  credited  the  members  of  the 
tribe  as  little  better  than  thieves  and  robbers. 

Col.  Ewing  was  especially  useful  to  us,  as  he  could  'talk  Indian,'  and 
help  to  interpret.  When  we  went  to  see  the  '  Electro-Magnetic  Telegraph,' 
as  it  was  called, — having  been  only  six  months  in  use  for  general  business 
between  Washington  and  Baltimore — he  aided  to  explain  it,  and  made  quite 
a  speech  to  the  Chiefs  about  the  Great  Spirit,  the  lightning,  and  Professor 
Morse.  The  Professor  was  then  the  Genius  of  the  Century,  although  he 
may  perhaps  be  almost  forgotten  ere  its  close.  Congress,  after  weary  beg 
ging,  had  aided  him  to  get  in  operation  the  line  from  Washington  to  Balti 
more,  and  private  enterprise  (October  1845)  was  carrying  it  on,  even  to 
Philadelphia  and  New  York !  But  hardly  anybody  anticipated  the  extent 
to  which  the  telegraph  would  come  into  use,  and  to  '  put  a  girdle  round  the 
world '  by  cables  in  the  seas  was  not  yet  dreamed  of.  The  first  message 
ever  sent  by  an  electric  telegraph  line  was  the  sentence — "WHAT  HATH 
GOD  WROUGHT,"  transmitted  from  Washington  to  Baltimore,  May  24, 
1844.  This  message  was  suggested  by  Miss  Annie  Ellsworth,  a  lass  in  her 
teens,  who  had  been  the  first  to  inform  Mr.  Morse  that  his  bill  had  passed 
Congress. 

The  telegraph  was  'great  medicine'  to  the  Chiefs.  Years  before  they 
had  learned  why  it  was  that  a  piece  of  paper,  with  marks  on  it,  could  con 
vey  ideas  and  preserve  them ;  but  this  thing  of  stretching  a  wire  on  posts 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  203 

forty  miles,  sending  along  any  thing  one  wanted  to  say,  and  having  the 
reply  in  a  minute,  jotted  down  in  mysterious  dots  and  dashes  on  a  strip  of 
paper,  was  something  akin  to  what  the  Great  Spirit  himself  might  be  ex 
pected  to  do  if  he  felt  in  the  humor.  They  would  not  have  been  able  to  be 
lieve  it  all  if  they  had  not  seen  that  Col.  Ewing,  Capt.  Sire,  and  myself  gave 
full  credence ;  and  when  old  Wah-bon-seh  had  his  name  sent  to  Baltimore, 
and  it  came  clicking  back  before  he  had  time  for  more  than  three  whiffs  of 
his  pipe,  he  expelled  the  last  draught  of  smoke  through  his  venerable  nos 
trils,  gave  us  a  monstrous  '  ugh!  "  and  declared  that  he  had  seen  so  many 
wonders  in  his  life  that  he  must  now  be  called  Twilight,  as  it  was  not  worth 
while  ever  to  see  any  more. 

The  Daguerreotype  gallery  of  John  Plumbe,  near  Brown's  Hotel  (now 
the  Metropolitan),  was  a  palace  of  wonders,  not  only  to  the  Indians,  but  to 
many  of  our  white  fellow-mortals  who  had  never  yet  been  portrayed  by  the 
Daguerrean  artist.  It  was  only  in  1839,  six  years  before,  that  Monsieur  Da- 
guerre  had  brought  his  process  into  public  use,  and  the  French  government 
(perhaps  as  enlightened  in  some  things  as  our  own)  had  purchased  it  for  the 
general  benefit ;  and  making  pictures  by  self-acting  light  was  not  by  any 
means  so  universal  as  now,  when  we  have  the  photograph  and  artotype ; 
and  poor  old  Daguerre,  who  no  doubt  thought  himself  famous,  is  almost 
gone  into  oblivion.  The  New  York  Herald,  in  November  1845,  had  a  Wash 
ington  letter  which  said : 

"The  greatest  wonder  of  all  to  country  folks  are  those  who  take  other 
people  off  without  touching  them  at  all.  Among  them  is  the  gentleman  at 
Plumbe's  Daguerrean  gallery.  He  takes  everybody  off,  from  the  President 
down  to  common  folks.  Here  are  John  Tyler  old,  John  Tyler  young,  and 
hundreds  of  others,  all  hanging  up  with  their  backs  against  the  walls  as 
natural  and  life-like  as  if  they  were  living,  breathing  creatures.  Pottawat- 
amies  were  there  too.  I  saw  them  the  other  day,  and  never  saw  them  look 
better  than  they  do  in  plates  ;  (they're  pretty  good  along  side  of  a  plate,  if 
full  enough).  Among  them  is  Wah-bon-seh,  the  old  brave  of  whom  Mc- 
Kenny,  in  his  'North  American  Indians,'  gives  us  a  striking  portrait  and 
an  interesting  biography.  This  old  fellow's  name  means  literally  Dawn  of 
Day,  and  he  gained  it  by  an  exploit  of  his  youth.  He  went  solus  on  an  ex 
pedition  against  the  Osages,  to  avenge  the  death  of  a  friend ;  stole  into  their 
camp,  tomahawked  a  dozen  before  the  alarm  was  given,  and  then  escaped 
just  as  the  day  was  dawning.  '  Wah-bon-seh ! '  he  exclaimed, '  day  a  little ! ' 
and  took  that  for  his  name.  In  the  Black  Hawk  war  he  was  very  active  on 
behalf  of  the  whites.  Shah-be-nay,  another  chief,  is  well  portrayed.  This 
man  distinguished  himself  about  the  time  the  Black  Hawk  war  broke  out, 
by  his  expeditions  to  warn  the  inhabitants  of  Illinois  of  their  danger.  Half 
Day,  the  orator  of  the  party,  is  a  fine-looking  Indian,  and  makes  a  capital 
picture.  He  is  a  jolly  fellow,  and  says  his  picture  would  look  much  better 
with  'two  white  squaws,'  one  on  each  side.  The  Indians  were  much  sur 
prised  at  the  magnetic  telegraph,  but  more  at  the  Daguerreotype  process. 'J 


204  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

The  young  reader  will  hardly  know  what  the  Daguerreotype  was — a 
picture  taken  on  a  metalic  plate,  before  the  art  came  in  of  taking  pictures 
on  prepared  paper.  Miss  Lilly  has  only  known  of  what  we  call  the  Photo 
graph,  or  its  multiplier,  the  Artotype.  But  her  greatest  misfortune  (and 
that  of  Adonis  too)  is  that  the  advancement  in  Science  and  Art  has  in  the 
last  fifty  years  been  so  great,  that  there  is  nothing  left  to  wonder  at.  Things 
which  afforded  us  surprise  and  taxed  our  faculties  in  efforts  to  understand 
them,  thus  giving  us  the  double  pleasure  of  excited  wonder  and  triumph 
over  mystery,  are  now  so  common  that  Lilly  and  Adonis  lose  all  the  enjoy 
ment  we  had  in  old  times  over  strange  things  ;  and  they  can  only  go  on 
telling  each  other  the  old,  old  story,  which,  they  may  thank  their  Creator, 
will  ever  be  new  to  each  generation.  But  as  to  the  old  Daguerreotype  pro 
cess,  I  might  say  that  it  made  a  better  picture  than  the  photographic  art 
can  show,  judging  by  my  own  likeness,  taken  in  1845  at  Plumbe's  gallery  ; 
for  I  defy  any  Photographer  to  make  as  handsome  a  picture  of  me  now ! 

The  amount  of  cheap  pleasure  afforded  by  photography  is  incalculable. 
Adonis  can  have  his  Lilly's  pretty  face  for  his  pocketbook  at  a  cost  so  small 
as  to  be  almost  contemptible ;  but  only  a  little  over  forty  years  ago  her 
painted  miniature  would  have  been  too  dear  for  his  purse.  Among  the  first 
cities  of  the  world  to  enjoy  the  results  of  Daguerre's  art  was  St.  Louis,  as  a 
gallery  was  established  by  John  H.  Fitzgibbon  in  1841,  only  two  years  after 
the  French  had  made  the  process  public.  This  excellent  man  went  to  his 
rest  in  1882,  but  the  St.  Louis  Photographer,  a  monthly  journal  founded  by 
him,  is  continued  under  Mrs.  Fitzgibbon,  and  is  the  exponent  of  photo 
graphic  art  for  the  great  valley. 

FITZGIBBON. 

Long  years  ago  he  drew 
The  magic  pictures  by  the  sun's  assistance; 

The  art  was  then  so  curious  and  so  new, 
We  wonder'd  it  had  come  so  great  a  distance, 

With  such  perfection  and  a  touch  so  true. 

For  scarce  Daguerre  had  thrown 
His  wond'rous  process  open  to  the  nations, 

When  here  on  Mississippi's  banks  'twas  known, 
By  our  Fitzgibbon's  dext'rous  ministrations, 

And  portraits  in  our  cabinets  were  shown 

My  infant  darlings  then 
Were  taken  off  with  marvellous  precision; 

Though  long  since  women  grown  and  men, 
I  see  them  smiling  in  a  happy  vision, 

As  if  their  childhood  were  all  back  again. 

Our  Chiefs  called  on  Senator  Ben  ton  and  had  a  talk.  Mrs.  Jessie  Benton 
Fremont  was  present,  and  much  pleased  to  meet  frontier  people  who  knew 
of  her  adventurous  husband.  Our  half-breed  interpreters,  who  had  learned 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEAKS.  205 

French  from  Canadian  voyageurs  before  the  Pottawatamies  had  left  their 
homes  near  Chicago,  were  delighted  with  Madame's  conversation  in  that 
language,  and  wondered  that  a  lady  could  speak  French  so  well,  who  had 
grown  up  so  far  away  from  where  they  had  learned  it.  Senator  Bentou 
had  received  us  with  as  much  courtesy  as  if  we  had  been  the  entire  diplo 
matic  corps,  and  promised  his  aid  in  adjusting  our  affairs  with  the  govern 
ment. 

J.  Knox  Walker,  President  Folk's  Secretary,  had  been  formally  advised 
that  the  Pottawatamie  ambassadors  would  pay  their  respects  to  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  at  any  hour  to  suit  the  convenience  of  their  Great 
Father  ;  and  soon  an  orderly  brought  us  a  gilt-edged  note  from  Mr.  Walker 
as  instructed  by  the  President,  directing  the  next  day  and  the  hour  of  noon 
for  the  ceremony.  Part  of  the  night  was  spent  in  solemn  council,  and  the 
next  morning  was  devoted  to  personal  adornment.  LeClaire,  Holliday  and 
Beaubien,  half-breeds,  had  come  down  to  the  white  man's  dress,  but  the 
Chiefs  rejected  with  scorn  the  suggestion  of  any  costume  but  that  of  the 
prairie.  It  had  gotten  out  that  the  interview  was  to  take  place,  and  when 
we  filed  out  from  Fuller's  and  marched  toward  the  White  House,  our  con 
spicuous  and  somewhat  picturesque  procession  had  a  crowd  of  spectators 
big  enough  to  stamp  us  as  the  best  show  of  the  day. 

President  Polk,  Secretary  of  War  Marcy,  and  Commissioner  of  Indian 
Affairs  Medill,  received  us  in  a  spacious  apartment ;  and  we  were  also  hon 
ored  by  the  presence  of  several  ladies.  Op-te-ke-shick,  or  Half  Day,  ad 
dressed  the  President : 

"  My  Great  Father :  You  see  your  red  children,  the  Chief  and  Braves  of 
the  Pottawatamies.  We  are  very  glad  to  shake  you  by  the  hand.  We  have 
come  a  long  way  and  our  hearts  beat  lively  when  we  see  you." 

President  Polk  replied  that  he  was  very  much  pleased  to  meet  his  red 
children  from  the  far  west. 

"  You  have  come,"  he  continued,  "  a  long  distance  to  the  seat  of  govern 
ment,  and  you  consider  the  business  which  has  brought  you  here  of  import 
ance.  It  shall  be  attended  to.  Full  justice  shall  be  done  to  you.  The 
government  desires  to  preserve  relations  of  friendship  and  peace  to  all  the 
Indian  tribes,  so  that  the  hatchet  between  the  red  man  and  the  white  man 
may  long  remain  buried." 

Having,  like  a  skillful  diplomatist,  drawn  out  these  professions  and 
promises,  Op-te-ke-shick  proceeded  to  deliver  the  speech  agreed  on  in  our 
night  council : 

"  My  Father  :  Your  chiefs  and  braves  here  present  respect  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States.  All  our  people  at  home  respect  the  government. 
The  white  man  is  our  friend  and  we  are  his.  We  have  always  given  you 
our  land  when  you  asked  for  it.  We  never  refused  you.  Like  good  chil 
dren  we  always  said  yes. 

"  Father :  We  have  given  you  all  our  land  about  the  Great  Lakes.  Look 
at  it.  Millions  of  white  men  can  live  on  it.  They  are  now  on  it.  It  is  a 


206  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEAKS. 

great  country,  and  it  contains  the  bones  of  our  grandfathers.  It  is  ours  no 
longer,  but  we  love  it  still.  When  we  look  back  to  it  our  hearts  are  sad. 

" Father:  You  gave  us  a  country  on  the  Missouri,  where  we  now  are. 
Twelve  winters  ago  at  Chicago  you  told  us  it  should  be  our  home  as  long  as 
the  sun  shines  and  water  flows;  that  we  should  grow  up  there  like  the 
grass  in  the  prairies  ;  and  that  all  you  had  promised  should  be  done  for  us 
there.  We  have  not  seen  it. 

"  Father :  We  love  the  country  where  we  are.  But  you  have  asked  us 
to  go  southwest  of  the  Missouri.  We  do  not  know  what  to  do.  There  is  a 
cloud  before  us,  and  we  look  to  you  to  remove  it.  We  can  depend  on  no  one 
but  you. 

"Father:  If  we  stay  where  we  are,  we  are  told  the  white  man's  laws 
will  be  extended  over  us  by  the  State  of  Iowa.  We  do  not  understand  them. 

"  Father :  You  are  from  the  West.  You  know  what  your  red  children 
want.  You  can  make  us  see  clearly  and  make  our  hearts  glad." 

The  President  made  another  speech  and  told  us  the  Secretary  of  War 
would  look  into  the  case  and  see  justice  done.  All  the  promises  of  the  gov 
ernment,  he  said,  should  be  kept ;  and  after  everything  should  be  arranged 
he  would  like  to  see  us  all  again  before  starting  home.  Then  we  shook 
hands  all  'round  and  marched  back  to  Fuller's,  where  we  discussed  the 
President's  speeches,  which  had  afforded  the  Chiefs  much  satisfaction,  ex 
cept  the  sentence  about  the  hatchet.  They  had  heard  so  much  of  the 
hatchet,  which  they  had  (figuratively)  buried  so  many  years  before,  that 
they  were  tired  of  it ;  and  besides,  they  had  lived  so  long  on  the  border  of 
civilization,  that  they  thought  this  hatchet  talk,  which  might  do  for  the 
wild  fellows  out  on  the  plains,  ought  to  be  dropped.  I  was  awfully  tired 
of  it  too.  I  had  taken  a  distaste  to  the  mention  of  a  hatchet  in  childhood, 
when  it  seemed  to  me  so  absurd  to  give  little  George  Washington  so  much 
applause  for  simply  telling  the  truth,  which  was  a  common  thing  in  our 
family.  When  Father  inquired  what  had  become  of  the  piece  of  buck 
skin  which  he  intended  for  a  patch  on  his  riding  clothes  where  the  saddle 
had  worn  them,  I  never  thought  of  anything  else  than  just  to  tell  him  that 
I  had  taken  it  for  the  boys  to  cover  their  balls  with ;  but  from  what  fol 
lowed  right  away  after  I  have  always  doubted  Mr.  Weemes'  pretty  story  of 
the  way  little  George's  father  behaved  to  him  about  the  cutting  of  the 
cherry  tree. 

As  Col.  Ewing  and  I  were  taking  our  late  oysters  to  sleep  on,  he  said— 

"  Major,  who  are  those  fellows  prowling  through  the  corriders  after  our 
Indians  ?  Goggles ! — yes,  sir— one  of  them  with  goggles  on  !  They  pushed 
in  at  the  President's  to-day  too.  And  there's  old  Sam  Stambaugh — what's 
he  after  ?  He  has  enough  to  do  to  look  after  his  Cherokees." 

"  Don't  be  disturbed,  Colonel.  Its  all  right.  Those  fellows,  as  you  call 
them,  are  the  gentlemen  to  make  an  atmosphere." 

"  An  atmosphere?    What  the  deuce  is  an  atmosphere?  " 

"  Just  wait,  and  you'll  see." 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEAKS.  207 

"Well,  all  I've  got  to  say  is — don't  lend  them  any  money." 

u  No  fear  of  that.    They're  not  after  money." 

" Then  what  do  they  want,  if  not  money?  Everybody  in  Washington 
wants  money." 

"  Not  of  course.    But  wait  and  see." 

I  would  give  him  no  explanation  ;  but  when  Father  Ritchie's  paper,  the 
Union,  official  organ  of  Mr.  Folk's  administration,  came  out  next  morning 
with  a  two  column  editorial  written  by  Col.  Stambaugh,  giving  a  graphic 
account  of  our  call  at  the  White  House,  and  assuring  everybody  that  justice 
must  and  should  be  done  to  the  noble  Pottawatamies,  who  had  come  all  the 
way  from  Council  Bluffs  to  get  it ;  and  when,  next  day,  the  New  York 
Herald  and  Philadelphia  Ledger  got  in,  the  glowing  letters  about  the  '  red 
brethren,'  their  intelligent  friend  (giving  me  the  proper  title  of  Colonel), 
the  great  wrongs  of  the  Indians,  the  splendid  domain  on  the  Missouri, 
which  the  government  wanted  to  wheedle  them  out  of,  and  so  on,  the  way 
to  make  an  '  atmosphere/  and  the  use  to  be  made  of  it,  became  palpable  to 
the  apprehension  of  Col.  Ewing. 

I  was  using  the  Press.  We  had  paraded  to  visit  Col.  Benton,  to  see  the 
telegraph,  and  the  Daguerrean  gallery,  had  inspected  the  curiosities  of  the 
Patent  Office  (where  a  suit  of  Washington's  every-day  clothes  were  pre 
served  in  a  glass  case),  and  had  taken  a  look  at  the  Capitol ;  but  only  a  few 
persons  saw  us  after  all,  and  only  a  limited  public  sentiment  could  be  cre 
ated  by  all  this  marching  and  countermarching.  Besides,  how  would  the 
gazing  public  know  what  to  think  of  us  ?  But  the  newspapers  carried  us 
everywhere,  and  told  the  people  what  views  they  ought  to  take  of  us  ;  and 
the  public,  as  in  duty  bound,  was  on  our  side.  There  was  a  Pottawatomie 
atmosphere  everywhere.  It  even  reached  the  lungs  of  the  dignified  old 
National  Intelligencer,  which  from  its  lofty  position  gave  us  an  editorial 
puff.  We  were  in  all  thoughts  and  on  all  tongues.  Never  before  or  since  has 
an  Indian  delegation  at  Washington  been  so  much  talked  about  and  so 
heartily  sympathised  with. 

"Major,"  said  Capt.  Sire  to  me,  "  if  you  pay  for  a  single  dozen  of  oysters, 
or  a  bottle  of  wine,  while  we  are  in  Washington,  I'll  make  it  a  personal 
matter,  sir." 

Col.  Ewing  was  highly  amused,  and  acknowledged  that  my  '  atmosphere' 
was  just  the  thing  to  waft  us  onward  in  our  treaty  making  enterprise  ;  and 
told  me  that  when  I  should  get  back  to  St.  Louis,  and  get  out  my  *  shingle ' 
as  a  lawyer,  I  must  consider  myself  as  engaged  by  the  year  as  attorney  for 
the  firm  of  W.  G.  &  G.  W.  Ewing.  He  even  took  back  all  he  had  said  about 
the  "  goggles,"  and  insisted  on  making  the  acquaintance  of  Dr.  Wallace,  of 
the  New  York  Herald,  who  wore  the  glasses. 

The  Press  had  been  used  but  in  that  unsophisticated  age  not  a  dollar 
had  been  paid  to  any  writer,  as  all  were  glad  of  the  chance  to  write  about 
Indians  ;  and  not  a  line  was  printed  that  was  not  substantially  true.  From 
prudence  as  well  as  principle,  the  Indians  and  myself  gave  out  only  facts, 
and  we  had  thus  no  dread  of  detection  or  exposure. 


208  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

SOLEMN  COUNCIL  — PREPARED  ORATORY  —  FIRST  OFFER  DECLINED  —  COUNCIL 
BREAKS  UP  —  THE  PRESS  INDIGNANT  —  A  CALL  ON  THE  PRESIDENT  —  THE 
DOOR  OPENED  AGAIN — MORE  ELOQUENCE — THE  COUNTRY  ABOUT  CHICAGO 
—  A  SATISFACTORY  OFFER  AND  A  PROTOCOL  —  DREAMING  —  PAINT  AND 
FEATHERS  PAST  AND  GONE— ASA  WHITNEY  AND  HIS  PACIFIC  RAILROAD- 
LAND  GRANTS— THEIR  ORIGINATOR  FORGOTTEN. 

Gen.  Gibson  and  Maj.  T.  P.  Andrews,  of  the  army,  were  selected  by 
President  Polk  to  treat  with  us,  and  the  important  conference  would  begin 
next  day.  At  night  the  corridors  of  Fuller's  hotel  reeked  with  smoke. 
Having  gained  a  point  we  did  not  mean  to  lose  it,  and  no  step  should  be 
taken  without  due  consideration.  I  only  remember  hazily  the  decisions  of 
our  grave  council,  but  the  main  thing  was,  not  to  hastily  commit  ourselves. 
Wah-bon-seh  was  to  open  briefly,  and  conclude  with  the  hope  that  if  v;e 
should  agree  on  a  treaty  it  might  be  a  wise  one,  as  he  did  not  expect  ever  to 
take  part  in  making  another.  Peerish  Le  Claire,  in  Indian  lingo,  was  to 
refer  to  some  former  treaties,  the  promises  of  which  had  not  been  kept  by 
the  government,  and  was  to  expatiate  on  the  charms  of  the  country  about 
Chicago,  where  the  frogs  in  the  marshes  sang  more  sweetly  than  birds  in 
other  parts — a  land  of  beauty,  which  they  had  ceded  to  the  government  for 
a  mere  trifle,  although  it  had  been  their  home  so  long  that  they  had  tradi 
tions  of  Pierrot,  the  first  white  man  who  ever  set  foot  upon  it,  two  hundred 
years  before.  He  was  to  conclude  with  praises  of  the  Platte  country  in  Mis 
souri,  once  promised  to  them  as  their  home  l  forever,'  but  from  which  they 
had  in  a  short  time  been  pushed  up  northward.  Op-te-ke-shiek  was  to 
repeat,  substantially,  the  speech  made  to  the  President,  with  expatiation 
on  the  beauty  and  value  of  their  five  million  acres  (so  much  desired  by  the 
people  of  Iowa  as  part  of  their  prospective  state),  and  was  to  magnify  the 
reluctance  of  the  Pottawatomies  to  give  up  so  fine  a  country,  with  a  sug 
gestion  that  their  brethren  in  Kansas  might  come  up  there,  if  the  govern 
ment  wanted  them  all  in  one  place,  as  there  was  room  enough  for  every 
body.  He  was  also  to  hint  of  shortcomings  of  the  Indian  bureau,  and  con 
clude  with  the  assurance  that  his  folks  would  all  be  perfectly  happy  in 
their  present  location,  if  their  Great  Father  would  only  not  forget  his 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  209 

promises,  and  would  stop  troubling  their  ears  with  talk  about  moving 
again. 

Should  the  diplomats  on  the  side  of  the  government  make  any  distinct 
proposal,  the  sturdy  Me-ah-mis  was  to  tell  them  that  the  Chiefs  would 
retire  to  the  great  wigwam  of  Mr.  Fuller  to  consider  it,  and  would  agree  to 
it  if  it  looked  all  right.  As  their  friend  and  adviser,  I  was  to  say  nothing, 
but  observe  closely,  and  if  I  should  see  any  signs  of  sharp  practice  on  the 
part  of  the  commissioners,  was  to  give  a  hint  to  Wah-bon-seh,  who  would 
adjourn  the  council.  No  lawyers  in  consultation  over  a  difficult  case  ever 
arranged  its  management  more  carefully. 

It  was  a  nice  program,  and  we  carried  it  out  with  tolerable  success,  but 
our  councilings  ran  through  several  days.  The  incidents  and  their  order 
have  faded  from  memory,  but  I  recollect  clearly  that  the  first  offer  for  our 
five  million  acres,  a  domain  six  times  the  size  of  Rhode  Island,  was  $250.000. 
This  we  declined,  of  course ;  but  I  totally  forget  how  it  was  that,  after  a 
few  interviews,  we  got  into  a  snarl,  and  a  good  deal  of  temper  was  dis 
played  on  both  sides  ;  whereupon  the  negotiation  was  broken  off  in  a  huff 
all  round. 

We  were  in  the  papers  again— insulted,  they  said,  by  the  top-lofty  com 
missioners  !  The  modest  friend  of  the  Indians  had  been  roused  to  indigna 
tion  !  The  dignity  of  the  Chiefs  would  not  permit  them  longer  to  continue 
in  a  council  where  no  respect  was  paid  to  their  rights  or  feelings.  Monstrous 
injustice — unseemly  attempt  to  wheedle  the  poor  Indians,  and,  this  failing, 
infamous  browbeating!  The  word  "  bull-dosing "  had  not  been  invented, 
or  it  would  no  doubt  have  been  used.  Much  to  be  regretted,  they  said,  this 
rupture  of  the  negotiation,  on  many  accounts,  and  especially  as  the  five 
million  acres  would  suit  so  well  as  part  of  the  new  state  of  Iowa.  The 
"  atmosphere  "  was  full  of  brimstone. 

We  must  take  leave  of  the  President,  and  go  home.  Again,  in  paint  and 
feathers,  we  paraded  up  to  the  White  House,  all  very  wide  awake,  although 
most  of  the  night  before  had  been  spent  in  assorting  our  thunderbolts,  and 
selecting  the  best  for  use.  Dr.  Wallace,  of  the  New  York  Herald,  under 
date  of  November  21,  1845,  gave  an  account  of  us : 

"The  Pottowatamie  delegation,  under  the  care  of  their  friend  the  Colonel, 
had  another  talk  with  the  President  to-day  in  the  White  House.  They 
occupied  several  hours  of  the  morning  in  arranging  their  toilet,  and  when 
they  appeared,  debouching  from  Fuller's  hotel  in  Indian  file,  their  costume 
presented  a  most  singular  admixture  of  savage  and  civilized  fashions.  Moc- 
cassins,  buckskin  gaiters,  beads,  medals,  long  flowing  masses  of  a  crimson 
sea-grass  or  hair,  eagle's  feathers,  raven's  wings,  ear  ornaments,  fragments 
of  bear  skins,  hung  with  numerous  ".mall  bells,  and  a  profusion  of  paint  of 
different  colors,  were  strangely  blended  with  frock  coats,  fur  caps,  turbans 
and  ivory-headed  walking  sticks.  Arrived  at  the  President's,  they  were 
conducted  to  the  reception  room  of  their  Great  Father.  A  number  of  white 
citizens  and  strangers  were  present,  some  of  them  distinguished  person- 


210  NOTES   TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEAKS. 

ages.  The  President  came  in,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Marcey,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  and  Mr.  J.  Knox  Walker,  the  Private  Secretary  of  the  Executive. 
*  *  *  *  Qn  the  west  a  side  door  was  thrown  open,  and  several  beautiful 
female  countenances  contemplated  the  pow-wow. 

"  The  delegation  all  having  shaken  hands  with  the  President  and  those 
about  him,  they  were  again  seated,  and  after  a  moment's  pause,  Op-te-ke- 
shiek,  or  Half  Day,  the  orator,  stepped  forward,  shook  hands  with  his  Great 
Father  and  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  stepping  backward  to  an  open  space, 
motioned  to  M.  B.  Beaubien,  a  half-breed,  and  an  intelligent  man,  to  rise 
and  interpret  to  the  President  the  speech  intended  for  his  hearing. 

"  But  before  we  proceed  to  the  speech,  let  us  describe  Half  Day  and  his 
rig.  Op-te-ke-shiek  is  a  stout  man,  rather  corpulent,  of  about  five  feet  nine 
inches  in  height,  with  a  full,  broad  open  countenance,  more  expressive  of  a 
lively,  gay  and  volatile  temperament  than  of  the  usual  inflexible  stolidity 
of  the  Indian.  He  has  a  fine  set  of  teeth,  which,  when  he  smiles,  are  exhib 
ited  without  reservation.  His  cheeks  and  temples  were  painted  a  bright 
vermillion,  with  a  zigzag  stripe  of  Prussian  blue  upon  each  side,  which,  from 
the  contrast  of  the  bright  ground  color  of  red,  stood  out  in  fine  relief.  His 
thick  suit  of  black  hair  was  docked  all  round,  and  combed  over  his  brow 
from  the  crown.  His  crown  was  surmounted  by  a  flaming  top-knot  of  a  red 
fibrous  material,  like  hair,  in  the  centre  of  which  was  a  large  eagle's  feather 
fixed  upon  a  pivot,  and  from  which  dangled  a  fantastically  carved  wooden 
skip-jack  of  about  eight  inches  by  two.  He  wore  mocassins  and  buckskin 
leggins,  and  a  civilized  shirt,  which,  instead  of  tucking  into  his  short  buck 
skin  breeches,  he  wore  over  them  as  a  butcher  wears  his  white  apron.  To 
crown  this  magnificent  display  of  "finery,  he  had  on  a  blue  frock  coat,  and  a 
black  silk  cravat  tied  loosely  about  his  throat.  His  left  hand  rested  on  the 
large  ivory  head  of  a  sword-cane,  and  his  right  was  left  free  for  action.  His 
attitude  was  dignified  and  erect,  the  expression  of  his  countenance  stern 
and  impressive,  his  voice  clear,  decisive  and  distinct — his  gestures  chaste, 
appropriate,  and  almost  an  interpretation  of  his  words  ;  his  whole  manner 
was  elegant  and  admirable. 

"  He  said  in  substance,  that  when  last  he  talked  to  the  President,  it  was 
in  this  same  room ;  that  his  talk  was  good  ;  that  he  had  told  them  (the 
Indians)  their  rights  should  be  respected,  etc.  They  had  been  referred  to 
the  Secretary  of  War,  and  he  had  referred  them  to  the  two  braves,  (Messrs. 
Gibson  and  Andrews)  but  nothing  had  been  done.  They  (the  Indians)  had 
been  told  that  the  lands  which  they  now  occupy  in  pursuance  of  the  treaties 
of  Chicago,  were  not  intended  for  their  permanent  residence.  They  had 
been  given  to  understand  differently  when  they  made  those  treaties.  They 
had  come  a  long  way  to  lay  their  complaints  before  their  Great  Father. 
They  could  now  only  rely  upon  him.  If  they  were  disappointed  they  desired 
to  be  told  so,  that  they  might  know  how  to  act,  or  whether  to  remain  any 
longer  at  the  seat  of  government  or  not. 

"When  Half  Day  had  finished  his  speech,  he  walked  up  again  to  the 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  211 

President  and  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  the  few  persons  immediately  about 
them,  and  laughing,  shook  hands  with  them,  exclaiming  as  he  passed  from 
one  to  another,  How  de  do?  Ah  !  hah  !  Major,  how  de  do? 

"  The  President  replied  that  the  government  was  bound  to  take  care  of 
all  its  red  children,  and  that  it  would  do  so.  (Here  an  exclamation  'Whoo- 
whoo!'  of  evident  pleasure  passed  round  the  Indian  line.)  The  President, 
however,  said  that  the  subject  belonged  to  the  Secretary  of  War  and  the 
Commissioners ;  that  this  delegation  had  come  voluntarily  to  the  seat  of 
government;  but  that  it  was  his  wish,  notwithstanding,  that  they  might 
yet  go  home  entirely  satisfied. 

"  Half  Day  rejoined  in  a  style  even  more  determined  and  animated  than 
at  first,  that  they  had  come  because  the  government  was  in  their  debt.  He 
desired  to  know  of  the  President,  if  they  (the  Indians)  were  in  his  debt, 
whether  he  would  not  go  out  to  them  or  send  a  messenger  to  collect  the 
money?  The  government  had  owed  them  for  twelve  years  for  the  lands 
they  had  sold  it.  When  this  old  bill  was  settled,  it  would  be  time  enough 
to  talk  of  a  new  contract. 

"  A  consultation  ensued  between  Colonel  Elliott  for  the  tribe  on  the  one 
part,  and  the  president  and  the  Secretary  of  War  for  the  government  on  the 
other  ;  after  which  the  President  said  that  their  may  have  been  some  mis 
understanding  in  the  talk  had  with  the  two  Commissioners,  and  that  it  was 
intended  to  give  his  red  children  another  council  on  Monday  next. 

"  Half  Day  replied  that  during  the  President's  consultation,  he  had  also 
had  a  little  consultation  with  his  Chiefs.  But  the  Commissioners  at  the 
last  council  had  told  them  that  the  door  was  closed. 

"  The  President  said  that  it  should  be  opened  again.  At  this,  Half  Day 
laughed  heartily,  and  shortly  thereafter,  the  delegation  returned  to  their 
quarters  at  the  hotel.  The  bearing  of  the  President  towards  these  poor 
people  was  kind  and  paternal.  He  endeavored  to  impress  upon  their  minds 
that  the  government  would  not  see  them  wronged — that  it  was  bound  to 
protect  them  and  would  not  fail  to  do  it." 

This  long  extract  refers  to  events  which  led  to  the  early  cession  of 
the  Pottawatamie  lands  in  Iowa,  and  gives  a  graphic  picture  of  my  friend 
Half  Day,  one  of  the  jolliest  fellows  I  ever  knew,  and  yet  a  man  of  excellent 
sense  in  his  way.  The  correspondent  does  scant  justice  to  his  speeches,  the 
points  of  which  had  all  been  agreed  on  the  night  before  ;  nor  did  the  good 
scribe  (with  the  goggles)  catch  the  wink,  the  burly  orator  gave  us  as  he 
came  up  laughing  to  shake  hands  all  round.  The  wink  meant  that  we  had 
gained  the  object  of  our  farewell  call,  which  was,  in  fact,  to  re-open  the 
negotiation,  as  the  Chief's  had  no  idea  of  going  home  without  having  accom 
plished  anything,  to  be  complained  of  by  some  of  their  people,  and  laughed 
at  by  others.  The  Chiefs  who  had  rubbed  against  civilization,  had  a  dread 
of  ridicule  directed  against  themselves,  and  like  white  men,  only  enjoyed  it 
when  others  were  the  victims. 

The  council  re-opened.    Never  was  Half  Day  so  eloquent.    He  portrayed 


212  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

the  magnificent  domain  in  Northern  Illinois,  which  at  the  wish  of  the  gov 
ernment,  the  Pottawatamies  had  abandoned — its  rivers,  its  lakes,  its  game, 
its  groves  of  cotton  wood  for  the  winter  forage  of  their  ponies — its  forests  of 
sugar  trees — and  the  graves  of  their  fathers  for  unknown  generations — all 
given  to  the  white  man.  The  Indians  must  go,  they  had  been  told ;  but 
they  were  to  have  a  home  in  Missouri  'forever.'  How  long  did  'forever' 
last?  Just  as  many  winters  as  he  had  fingers  on  his  hands  ;  for  two  years 
ago  they  had  been  told  it  was  time  to  be  taking  down  their  lodges  to  move 
again.  He  would  have  liked  to  take  off  his  moccasins  and  count  on  his 
toes ;  but  their  Great  Father  only  looked  at  their  fingers.  That  was  his 
'forever.'  Their  brethren  down  in  Kansas  had  a  ' forever '  too,  but  how 
long  would  it  last,  if  he  and  his  people  were  to  go  there  ?  It  was  a  good 
country  on  the  Missouri ;  not  as  good  as  round  Chicago,  and  on  the  Kan- 
kakee,  but  it  would  do.  They  liked  it  more  and  more.  Many  of  them  had 
log  houses  and  little  farms ;  they  had  homes  which  they  did  not  want  to 
leave.  Even  the  people  of  Me-ah-mis,  on  the  Nishnabotna,  had  good  wig 
wams,  and  were  happy.  If  their  Great  Father  wants  them  to  go  to  Kansas, 
he  must  have  put  new  hearts  into  the  braves  (Gibson  and  Andrews)  sent 
to  talk  with  them  again.  The  Great  Father  has  a  big  house  to  live  in. 
He  must  be  very  rich.  But  the  braves  had  acted  as  if  he  was  poor.  They 
had  only  offered  a  little  sum  for  their  five  million  acres,  like  giving  a  poor 
fellow  the  tail  of  a  buffalo  to  keep  him  warm.  He  wanted  a  whole  robe  or 
nothing.  He  could  not  go  home  to  his  people  and  have  only  a  buffalo  tail 
to  show  for  all  their  land. 

At  a  vast  expense  of  oratory  on  both  sides  we  went  011  day  after  day  with 
our  council,  but  the  novelty  was  wearing  off,  and  the  public,  I  think,  was 
getting  a  little  tired  of  us,  when  we  at  length  closed  the  contract  at  $650,000  for 
the  Pottawatamie  domain  in  Iowa  ;  just  $600,000  more  than  first  offered  for 
it.  A  sort  of  protocol  was  signed,  not  as  a  final  treaty,  but  to  be  executed 
as  such  at  Council  Bluffs,  "when  the  grass  grows "  in  the  following  spring. 
Our  last  council  was  a  very  solemn  affair,  but  we  separated  in  good  humor, 
with  the  distinct  understanding  that  the  same  Commissioners  were  to  visit 
the  Bluffs,  in  the  spring,  and  the  same  friends  of  the  Indians  were  to  be 
present.  The  Chiefs  particularly  designated  me  as  their  friend  and  adviser, 
who  must  be  there,  as  I  could  tell  their  people  the  Treaty  was  all  right,  and 
could  see  that  it  was  executed  according  to  the  agreement  already  entered 
into. 

That  night  at  Fuller's  we  '  dreamed '  again.  My  dream  was  to  the  effect 
that  the  Chiefs  were  to  pay  me  three  '  boxes/  in  the  spring,  for  going  to 
their  country  to  aid  in  completing  the  Treaty ;  and  the  Chiefs  dreamed  that 
the  arrangement  was  'good.'  A  'box'  meant  $1,000,  as  their  cash  annui 
ties  were  paid  in  silver,  each  box  containing  that  sum. 

As  I  was  to  remain  a  few  weeks  in  Washington,  the  delegation  bade  me 
farewell,  and  I  have  never  seen  any  of  them  since.  On  their  way  home,  a 
stage  was  upset  in  Ohio,  and  Wah-bon-seh  was  killed.  Some  of  the  others 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  213 

were  hurt,  but  not  fatally.  The  old  Chief's  bones  (and  there  was  not  much 
else),  were  laid  in  the  soil  of  Ohio,  and  may  have  fertilized  the  vegetation 
which  has  been  nourishing  some  Buckeye  boy  for  a  future  President. 

The  days  of  Indian  delegations  to  Washington,  in  paint  and  feathers,  are 
past  and  gone,  and  hence  I  have  given  so  full  an  account  of  our  visit  in  1845, 
as  a  record  of  earnest  action  never  to  be  repeated.  It  was  part  of  the  pro 
cess  of  pushing  the  Indians  further  westward,  to  make  room  for  what  we 
consider  a  better  order  of  human  kind.  Yet  we  had  only  faint  notions  of 
what  was  to  come.  If  the  reader  will  go  back  to  that  date,  and  consider 
what  were  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  continent  west  and  northwest 
from  Council  Bluffs  to  the  Pacific,  and  contrast  it  with  the  present,  he  will 
see  how  far  the  reality  of  progress  has  outrun  any  possible  anticipation.  Or 
let  him  in  imagination  go  back  to  Chicago  in  1834,  and  sit  in  council  with 
the  Pottawatamies,  then  making  the  treaty  by  which  they  ceded  to  the 
United  States  their  splendid  domain  of  northern  Illinois,  and  he  will  see 
that  the  world  has  no  record  of  changes  equal  to  those  at  the  end  of  Lake 
Michigan. 

During  my  stay  in  Washington,  I  boarded  in  the  same  house  with  Asa 
Whitney,  then  urging  his  grand  scheme  of  a  Pacific  Railroad.  He  wanted 
to  start  from  Lake  Michigan,  and  run  to  the  Pacific  by  way  of  the  South 
Pass,  and  petitioned  Congress  for  a  grant  of  lands  one  hundred  miles  wide, 
afterwards  reduced  to  sixty,  to  provide  means  to  build  the  road.  Through 
the  press  I  co-operated  with  him  in  educating  the  public  mind  on  the  sub 
ject  of  a  Pacific  Railroad,  on  his  or  some  other  plan.  Mr.  Whitney  was  a 
most  amiable,  intelligent  and  interesting  man,  of  views  too  broad  and  com 
prehensive  to  be  readily  appreciated  by  Congress  or  the  people.  But  he 
did  a  good  deal  to  create  that  enlightened  public  sentiment,  which  began  in 
1862  to  take  practical  shape  in  acts  of  Congress  organizing  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad  Company,  but  which  had,  years  before,  resulted  in  the  incorpora 
tion  of  a  Pacific  Railroad  in  Missouri,  and  the  actual  beginning  of  its  con 
struction  in  1851. 

Mr.  Whitney's  efforts  to  start  his  Pacific  Railroad  no  doubt  led  to  the 
grant  of  lands  to  Illinois  for  the  Central  road,  and  to  all  the  land  grants 
which  have  followed — greatly  to  the  present  benefit  of  the  nation,  notwith 
standing  the  frauds  which  have  in  some  cases  grown  out  of  these  measures. 
But  Mr.  Whitney  himself  is  forgotten,  and  there  is  not  even  a  station  named 
for  him  on  any  of  the  great  lines  of  continental  railroads. 


214  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

ST.  LOUIS  LAWYERS — A  LAND  SPECULATION — BRITTON  A.  HILL'S  BOOK,  LIBERTY 
AND  LAW — CASE  IN  THE  CRIMINAL  COURT — INDICTMENT  QUASHED — UNDUE 
PROTECTION  OF  THE  CRIMINAL  CLASSES  —  MEXICAN  WAR— ST.  LOUIS  LE 
GION —  GARRISON'S  BIG  STEAMBOAT  —  LACLEDE  RANGERS  —  UNSULLIED 
SWORDS — FOLK'S  STATESMANSHIP— AT  FORT  LEAVENWORTH — NO  SUPPER — 

ORATORY  IN  PLACE  OF  RATIONS— THE  POTTAWATAMIE   TREATY. 

Early  in  1846  my  sign  'Attorney-at-Law '  was  up  in  St.  Louis,  whose  bar 
had  then  old  members  of  very  high  rank,  and  younger  ones  of  unusual 
promise.  Among  the  former  were  Edward  Bates,  Hamilton  B.  Gamble, 
Henry  S.  Geyer,  Josiah  Spalding,  John  F.  Darby,  Luke  E.  Lawless,  and 
Trusten  Polk.  Among  the  latter  were  Britton  A.  Hill,  Albert  Todd,  John 
M.  Krum,  Thomas  B.  Hudson,  Thomas  T.  Gantt,  and  others  who  have  since 
made  their  mark.  I  was  appalled  when  I  contemplated  this  array  of  talents, 
learning  and  experience,  and  could  not  well  imagine  myself  coping  with  forces 
so  great.  Years  before  I  had  once  been  on  business  in  the  presence  of  Daniel 
Webster,  when  it  almost  seemed  as  if  he  could  by  a  wave  of  his  hand  anni 
hilate  me ;  and  the  majesty  of  the  St.  Louis  bar  had  a  similar  effect.  I  made 
few  acquaintances ;  but  among  the  earliest  of  those  with  whom  I  had  any 
intercourse  was  Brifcton  A.  Hill.  This  gentleman  received  the  stranger  with 
so  much  kindness  that  I  often  enjoyed  his  entertaining  and  instructive  con 
versation  ;  and  on  one  occasion  he  took  me  in  a  buggy  down  near  the  arsenal 
and  offered  me  one-half  share  in  a  ten  acre  lot  he  was  about  to  purchase  in 
the  City  Commons,  fronting  on  Carondelet  avenue.  The  price  was  fifty  dol 
lars  an  acre ;  but  I  had  no  money.  There  was  money  subject  to  my  order  in 
the  bank,  but  it  belonged  to  the  United  States,  and  I  was  so  simple,  that  I 
never  once  thought  of  using  it  for  my  own  benefit;  nor  did  Mr.  Hill  ever 
suggest  this  convenient  appropriation  of  it.  The  purchase,  I  believe, 
resulted  in  large  profit  to  my  friend,  but  I  lost  my  share  of  it  because  I 
did  not  know  how  to  use  public  funds  for  private  advantage. 

The  volume  published  in  recent  years  by  Britton  A.  Hill,  entitled  '  LIB 
ERTY  AND  LAW,'  is  one  of  the  remarkable  books  of  the  century.  But  its 
original  and  comprehensive  views  of  society  and  government,  will  require 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  215 

time  to  be  fully  understood  and  appreciated.  It  is  a  grand  effort  towards 
the  elevation  of  mankind  ;  but  reforms  intended  to  eradicate  abuses  hoary 
with  age,  and  to  bring  about  comparative  perfection  in  society  and  govern 
ment,  can  only  make  their  way  by  uprooting  evils  which  have  by  usage 
become  almost  a  part  of  human  nature.  To  this  achievement  Mr.  Hill  has 
given  his  labor  without  care  for  other  reward  than  the  consciousness  of  hav 
ing  done  a  service  needed  by  the  world.  The  volume  is  a  marvellous  com 
pendium  of  thought  and  suggestion.  It  should  be  in  every  library,  and 
studied  by  all  entrusted  with  municipal,  state  or  federal  legislation.  Many 
of  the  recommendations  are  so  practical,  and  the  ends  to  be  attained  so 
desirable,  that  they  should  be  adopted  at  once ;  notably  those  in  regard  to 
the  codification  of  state  and  national  laws. 

My  law  office  was  in  a  second  floor  room  opposite  the  old  Court  House, 
where  I  had  Blackstone,  Chitty,  Story,  Greenleaf,  eight  Missouri  Reports 
(all  then  issued),  the  Bible  and  Shakspeare,  as  a  law  library.  The  carpet- 
less  and  dusky  office,  and  scant  outfit  of  book  lore  did  not  trouble  me,  but  I 
was  very  dubious  as  to  my  fitness  for  civil  practice,  though  I  thought  I 
might  get  on  in  the  criminal  court.  I  had  a  vague  notion  about  that  court 
something  like  the  idea  of  Sol.  Smith,  when  on  one  occasion  he  undertook 
the  prosecuting  attorney's  duties  during  the  absence  of  that  officer. 

"  I  like  this,"  he  said  to  a  friend,  "  better  than  the  civil  practice.  There's 
no  confounded  filing  things  !  " 

My  first  caller  was  Bernard  McNulty,  the  Irish  baker.  Mrs.  Mary 
McMenamy  had  been  arrested  by  City  Marshal  Dougherty  with  a  stolen 
shawl  on  her  shoulders,  as  she  was  boarding  the  ferry  boat  to  cross  the 
river,  and  McNulty  had  gone  bail  for  her  appearance  in  court. 

It  was  apparently  a  plain  case  for  the  prosecution.  The  shawl  would 
be  identified,  and  Mrs.  McMenamy  could  not  account  for  its  possession. 
But  the  indictment  had  two  counts — one  placing  the  value  of  the  stolen 
article  at  more  than  ten  dollars,  and  the  other  under  that  sum  ;  ten  dollar 
stealing  being  felony,  with  penitentiary,  and  less  than  ten  misdemeanor, 
with  county  jail.  The  Supreme  Court,  with  that  ineffable  wisdom  so  often 
manifested  by  grave  tribunals,  had  in  one  case  ruled  that  felony  and  mis 
demeanor  could  not  be  joined  in  the  same  indictment ;  and  I  moved  the 
Court  to  "  quash,"  on  the  ground  of  misjoinder  of  two  offences.  My  personal 
friend,  Thomas  B.  Hudson,  one  of  the  ablest  criminal  lawyers  at  the  bar, 
told  me  there  was  nothing  in  the  point ;  and  the  prosecuting  attorney, 
Miron  Leslie,  smiled  pleasantly  and  said,  in  his  good-natured  way,  that  it 
was  well  enough  for  a  young  lawyer  to  make  the  "  quash  "  motion,  but  that 
I  would  "  take  nothing  by  it." 

Law  day  came.  The  defendant  was  in  the  court  room,  and  I  quietly  told 
her  that  when  I  began  to  fumble  my  left  ear  as  if  it  was  itchy,  she  must  get 
away  and  over  to  her  home  in  Illinois  in  the  quickest  possible  time.  Judge 
Manning  was  on  '  the  bench  ' — a  chair  with  double  cushions,  enabling  him 
to  look  over  his  desk,  as  nature  had  not  been  liberal  in  his  stature.  I  had 


216  NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

taken  over  my  library,  and  had  it  on  the  desk  in  front  of  me,  with  the  vol 
umes  pointing  at  His  Honor  like  a  battery  of  cannon  with  their  breeches 
depressed  to  get  the  range.  Stating  the  point  of  misjoinder,  I  read  the  sole 
decision  on  which  I  relied,  and  was  proceeding  to  enlarge  on  the  importance 
of  all  possible  guards  to  the  rights  and  liberties  of  citizens,  when  the  Judge 
said: 

"  I'll  hear  from  the  other  side." 

"If  the  Court  please,"  waving  my  hand  over  the  artillery— "  here  are 
other  authorities." 

"  Not  necessary.    I'll  hear  from  the  other  side." 

Mr.  Leslie  made  a  strong  speech,  full  of  good  sense  and  sound  argument, 
but  it  could  not  dispel  the  ruling  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

"  This  indictment  is  quashed,"  said  His  Honor. 

My  left  ear  was  itchy,  and  after  fumbling  it  I  looked  round  for  Mrs. 
McMenamy,  but  she  was  not  visible  ;  nor  have  I  ever  seen  her  since,  or  the 
promised  fee  of  twenty  dollars. 

The  young  lawyer  may  deduce  two  rules  from  this  case  :  1st,  to  get  his 
fee  in  advance ;  and  2nd,  if  there  is  but  one  point  in  his  case,  however  flimsy, 
try  it  on.  But  if  he  simply  wants  to  be  a  good  citizen,  he  may  possibly 
inquire  if  we  have  not  placed  so  many  guards  round  the  rights,  privileges 
and  immunities  of  the  criminal  classes,  that  but  few  securities  are  left  for 
those  of  honest  folks.  If  Tallyrand  ever  said  that  language  was  invented 
to  conceal  thought,  I  think  we  could  better  say  that  many  features  of  our 
modern  jurisprudence  seem  to  have  been  invented  to  shield  scoundrels.  It 
is  thirty-seven  years  since  Mrs.  McMenamy  slipped  away,  but  in  all  that 
time  I  have  never  been  able  to  see  how  that  double-loaded  indictment  did 
her  any  injustice.  She  was  guilty,  but  a  technicality  saved  her. 

Very  little  business  came,  but  I  looked  forward  cheerfully  to  the  Potta- 
watamie  treaty.  The  '  boxes  '  I  was  to  get  would  be  a  good  year's  work, 
and  I  need  not  fret  for  even  twenty  dollar  fees.  As  the  spring  opened,  and 
went  on  expanding,  I  called  daily  at  the  Indian  office,  but  Maj.  Harvey  had 
heard  nothing  of  the  treaty,  nor  had  Mr.  Haverty,  the  old  clerk.  April  had 
gone  and  May  was  fast  going,  but  still  no  news  of  the  treaty ! 

Meantime,  the  battles  between  the  armies  of  Mexico  and  of  the  United 
States  had  taken  place  in  the  disputed  territory  extending  from  the  Nueces 
River  in  Texas  to  the  Rio  Grande,  and  Gen.  Gaines — husband  of  Myra  Clarke 
Gaines,  the  lady  of  big  lawsuits— had  called  for  volunteers  from  Missouri; 
and  St.  Louis  had  responded  with  her  "  Legion"  of  organized  citizen  soldiers, 
Col.  Alton  R.  Easton  in  command.  Col.  John  Knapp,  and  Capt.  George  W. 
West,  who  were  officers  in  the  Legion,  will  remember  the  patriotic  spirit 
then  prevalent,  and  the  admiring  throngs  who  visited  their  parade  ground 
in  the  open  country  at  Twelfth  and  Olive  streets.  We  who  were  only  spec 
tators  thought  the  well-clad  warriors,  eight  hundred  strong,  had  a  long 
march  down  Olive  to  the  wharf;  but  they  were  choice  spirits,  and  steamed 
gaily  down  stream  on  the  Convoy,  the  largest  steamboat  ever  on  the  river 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEAKS.  217 

up  to  that  date,  and  capable  of  carrying  1,500  tons.  Cornelius  K.  Garrison, 
now  an  eminent  citizen  of  New  York,  was  owner  and  master,  not  then  think 
ing  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  same  enterprising  spirit  which  prompted  Mr. 
Garrison  to  build  a  steamboat  larger  than  any  other  then  on  the  western 
waters,  led  him  at  an  early  day  to  California,  where  his  superior  talents  as 
a  business  man,  gave  him  position  and  large  rewards.  In  1846  William  C. 
Ralston  was  clerk  on  the  Convoy  or  some  other  St.  Louis  boat,  and  you 
might  have  bought  his  interest  in  California  for  a  very  small  sum,  as  no  one, 
except  possibly  Fremont,  had,  before  the  Mexican  war,  looked  forward  to 
the  acquisition  of  that  country,  then  known  only  as  a  region  of  wild  cattle, 
horses  and  hides.  The  subsequent  career  of  Mr.  Ralston,  as  a  speculator 
and  banker,  was  exceptionally  brilliant  and  of  great  benefit  to  many  inter 
ests  on  the  Pacific  side;  but  with  all  its  Aladdin-like  splendor,  it  ended 
sadly  ;  and  under  the  shadow  of  misfortune  he  passed  dubiously  from  his 
grand  palace  in  San  Francisco  to  the  grave.  They  have  even  stricken  his 
name  from  a  mining  camp  in  Arizona,  and  called  it  Shakspeare ! 

About  the  time  rendered  memorable  by  the  departure  of  the  Legion,  im 
patient  to  enjoy  the  pride,  pomp  and  circumstance  of  glorious  war,  some 
where  or  somehow,  a  letter  came  from  Senator  Benton,  stating  that  an 
armed  force  would  be  sent  across  the  plains  to  New  Mexico  ;  and  soon  an 
official  order  reached  Col.  Stephen  W.  Kearney  at  Fort  Leavenworth,  to  get 
ready  three  hundred  U.  S.  Dragoons  and  one  thousand  mounted  volunteers 
for  a  march  to  Santa  Fe  and  elsewhere — something  like  the  clearance  of  a 
ship  'to  Cowes  and  a  Market.'  The  decisive  call  on  Missouri  at  length 
came,  and  the  air  was  full  of  patriotism. 

The  city  and  county  of  St.  Louis,  if  I  recollect  rightly,  were  left  out  of 
the  call ;  but  how  can  patriotic  impulses  be  kept  down  ?  Thomas  B.  Hud 
son  began  to  organize  a  company,  he  as  Captain  and  I  as  1st  Lieutenant. 
Hudson  was  not  only  a  good  lawyer  but  a  natural  orator,  and  for  several 
nights  the  old  Court  House  rang  with  militant  eloquence.  We  soon  had  one 
hundred  men  in  uniform  and  mounted — the  l  Laclede  Rangers ' — and  were 
mustered  into  the  state  service  by  Col.  Robert  Campbell.  We  paraded  (as 
had  the  Legion)  in  the  open  country  surrounding  the  brick  edifices  which 
Mr.  Lucas  had  erected  on  Twelfth  street,  for  a  market  if  ever  needed ;  with 
no  other  buildings  near  except  an  unfinished  row  on  Olive  street. 

While  our  preparations  for  deadly  war  were  going  on,  Capt.  Hudson  and 
his  1st  Lieutenant  had  an  invitation  to  the  '  Empire,'  a  public  house  at  Pine 
and  Third  streets.  Samuel  Treat,  Esq.  (now  the  honored  Judge  of  the  U.  S. 
District  Court),  Col.  Charles  Keemle,  Joseph  M.  Field  (Miss  Kate's  father), 
and  Peter  W.  Johnston,  Esq.,  are  all  I  can  recollect  as  in  the  party.  To 
testify  their  confidence  in  us  and  to  stimulate  our  heroic  souls,  some  of  our 
friends  had  determined  to  present  swords  to  Capt.  Hudson  and  myself,  and 
hence  our  meeting  at  the  '  Empire.'  Col.  Keemle  made  a  separate  address 
to  each,  and  presented  the  swords,  and  each  in  turn  replied.  The  essence 
of  our  responses  was,  that  those  elegant  swords,  tokens  of  esteem  and  friend- 


218  NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

ship,  '  should  never  be  dishonored  '—and  they  never  were.  We  put  them 
carefully  away  at  home  before  we  left,  and  on  our  return  we  found  them 
unsullied,  as  we  had  left  them — handsome  parade  swords  for  infantry,  but 
not  well  suited  for  cavalry  service.  Dishonored? — Never  ! 

Not  the  least  animosity  had  I  felt  towards  the  Mexicans,  nor  did  I  wish 
to  kill  anybody  ;  but  as  the  war  seemed  to  be  taking  so  much  of  the  Gov 
ernment's  attention  that  the  Pottawatamie  treaty  was  probably  overlooked 
— and  as,  by  volunteering  I  would  acquire  a  sort  of  right  to  talk  against  war 
in  the  future — I  had  decided  that  I  might  as  well  be  one  of  the  'Army  of  the 
West,'  which  I  had  a  notion  would  be  recalled  before  we  should  get  half 
way  to  Santa  Fe.  The  narrow  strip  of  country  between  the  Nueces  and  the 
Rio  Grande,  which  Texas  had  only  conquered  constructively,  did  not  appear 
to  be  worth  fighting  for  ;  and  I  supposed  the  Government  would  occupy  it 
with  large  armies,  and  then  negotiate,  as  the  cheapest  way  of  acquiring 
title.  I  even  imagined  the  St.  Louis  Legion  marching  up  and  down  along 
the  Bio  Grande,  scaring  away  any  Mexican  troops  that  might  want  to  come 
over. 

But  President  Polk,  who  declared  in  his  message  that  war  existed  *  by 
the  act  of  Mexico,'  had  views  differing  from  mine,  as  I  had  not  risen  above 
plain  common  sense,  and  he  had  got  up  to  statesmanship.  The  upshot  was, 
that  before  the  dispute  was  settled,  millions  on  millions  of  wealth  were 
wasted,  thousands  of  good  lives  were  sacrificed,  unutterable  distress  brought 
to  many  homes,  and  a  crop  of  veterans  left  to  solicit  in  vain  for  pensions. 
Mr.  Polk's  policy,  thanks  to  the  soldiers,  added  to  the  national  domain 
nearly  all  of  what  are  now  Colorado,  Utah,  New  Mexico,  Arizona  and  Cali 
fornia.  We  took  them  as  'indemnity  for  the  past  and  security  for  the 
future  ;'  and  then,  in  the  Gadsden  Purchase,  we  bought  a  strip  to  straighten 
our'southern  boundary,  just  as  we  might  have  bought  the  land  between  the 
Nueces  and  Rio  Grande,  and  had  no  war  at  all.  But  the  general  sentiment 
was,  that  the  Mexicans  were  a  half-barbarous  set  any  way,  and  had  no  busi 
ness  to  send  their  greasy  and  ragged  soldiers  over  the  Rio  Grande,  into  a  ter 
ritory  always  owned  by  them  but  constructively  conquered  by  the  Texans, 
who  were  the  advanced  guard  of  our  superior  civilization  ;  and  we  taught 
the  successors  of  Montezuma  the  infallible  maxim  that  justice  and  right  are 
always  on  the  side  of  the  strongest  armies.  Abraham  Lincoln,  Thomas 
Corwin,  and  a  few  others  in  Congress  regarded  the  war  as  cruel  and  unjust, 
but  once  begun  it  had  to  go  on. 

Our  '  Laclede  Rangers '  were  a  company  to  be  proud  of.  So  readily  did 
they  acquire  skill  in  movement,  that  when  the  steamboat  Pride  of  the  West 
had  taken  position  at  the  upper  part  of  St.  Louis,  near  Walsh's  Mill,  the 
horses  and  kits  were  taken  on  and  secured  in  a  time  so  short  as  to  astonish 
some  dragoon  officers  of  the  regular  army,  who  happened  to  be  on  board. 
Michael  McEnnis,  late  President  of  the  St.  Louis  Merchants'  Exchange,  can 
vouch  for  the  spirit  and  discipline  displayed.  The  ladies  had  prepared  a 
guidon  for  us,  which  Samuel  Treat,  Esq.,  presented  in  a  sparkling  and 


^          NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEAKS.  219 

eloquent  speech,  and  Capt.  Hudson  replied,  telling  how  courageously  we 
would  carry  it  in  battle. 

Receiving  a  salute  and  our  commissions  at  Jefferson  City,  we  paddled  on, 
stopping  to  be  admired  at  Boonville,  Glasgow  and  other  points ;  and  at 
length  reached  a  nice  landing-place,  where  the  Kansans  have  since  built  a 
beautiful  and  prosperous  city  called  Leavenworth.  From  there  we  marched 
to  the  Fort,  guidon  aloft,  as  we  did  not  know  what  else  to  do  with  it.  Col. 
Kearney  received  us  as  soldiers  at  once ;  ordered  the  men  to  be  shown  quar 
ters,  directed  Capt.  Alley  to  muster  us  into  the  service  of  the  United  States 
at  daylight  next  morning ;  invited  Capt.  Hudson  and  his  Lieutenants  to 
supper ;  and  in  all  respects  behaved  like  a  gallant  commander  and  thought 
ful  gentleman. 

Our  Rangers  were  men  of  pluck  and  fortitude,  but  having  taken  dinner 
at  noon  on  the  boat,  began  towards  evening  to  look  round  their  naked  quar 
ters  in  the  barracks  for  supper.    The  quartermaster  could  give  them  no 
camp  equipage,  as  they  were  not  yet  mustered  into  service.    The  commis 
sary  was  so  tangled  in  red  tape  that  it  was  impossible  to  issue  a  ration  till 
muster  was  over  next  morning  ;  and  he  even  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  wags 
among  the  '  boys/  who  craved  the  privilege  of  smelling  his  empty  pork  bar 
rels.    Hiram  Rich,  the  sutler,  had  a  scanty  supply  of  crackers  and  cheese, 
and  a  varied  assortment  of  liquid  necessaries  in  bottles  and  casks  ;  but  the 
Rangers  were  not  flush  of  money,  nor  accustomed  to  the  diet  of  the  sutler's 
store.    Like  the  whisperings  of  zephyrs,  comment  on  the  situation  began, 
but  gradually  swelled  to  something  like  the  mutterings  of  remote  thunder ; 
and  by  the  time  the  officers  had  risen  from  Col.  Kearney's  table,  and  bowed 
their  adieus  to  host  and  hostess,  there  was  some  clamor  at  the  company's 
quarters,  which  the  1st  Sergeant,  Alexander  Patterson,  was  trying  to  quell 
by  the  assurance  that  it  was  "  (blank)  nonsense  to  be  making  a  fuss,  when 
it  couldn't  mend  things."    Sergeant  Patterson  met  us  near  the  Colonel's 
mansion  and  announced  a  new  obligation — 
"  Captain  Hudson,  the  devil's  to  pay !  " 
"  Well,  Sergeant,  what's  the  matter?  " 
"  The  men  can't  get  any  supper,  and  they  don't  like  it." 
"  That  must  be  looked  to.    We'll  see  what  can  be  done." 
Lieutenant  La  Beaume  went  with  the  Sergeant,  and  the  Captain  and  I 
to  the  Commissary  ;  but  no  rations  could  be  got. 

"  This  is  a  (blank)  bad  business,"  the  Captain  said  to  me  privately. 
"  What  do  you  think  we'd  better  do  ?  " 

"  There's  but  one  thing  to  be  done,  Capt.  Hudson.    We  got  up  the  com 
pany  in  St.  Louis  on  your  speeches.    You  must  give  'em  a  blast  about  hard 
ship,  patience,  fortitude  and  all  that  sort  of  thing." 
It  was  the  only  advice  possible,  and  was  acted  on. 

"  The  government,"  said  the  Captain  to  the  Rangers  "has  done  no  more 
for  your  officers  than  for  you ;"  which  was  true,  as  it  was  Col.  Kearney  who 
had  given  us  our  suppers  ;  and-then  in  glowing  phrases  he  pictured  the  hero- 


220  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

ism  of  war,  the  sublime  achievements  of  patriotism— the  great  things  we 
would  accomplish — our  pluck,  discipline,  fortitude — our  splendid  march  into 
the  Fort  with  our  guidon  up,  as  emblematic  of  our  march  into  the  strong 
places  of  Mexico !  "  Yes,  we  shall  knock  at  the  gates  of  Santa  Fe,  as  Ethan 
Allen  knocked  at  the  gates  of  Ticonderoga,  and  to  the  question  —  who's 
there? — we  shall  reply — open  these  gates  in  the  name  of  the  Great  Jehovah 
and  the  Laclede  Rangers !  "  This  was  received  with  tremendous  applause. 
"  But  suppose,"  he  continued,  "  the  fellows  inside  should  call  out — are  you 
the  same  Laclede  Rangers  who  went  whining  round  Fort  Leavenworth  in 
search  of  a  supper  ?  "  That  settled  them.  The  clamor  subsided,  and  in  ex 
cellent  humor  the  brave  Rangers  went  supperless  to  bed,  rolled  in  their 
blankets  on  the  floor. 

After  muster  next  morning  I  met  on  the  parade  the  Superintendent  of 
Indian  Affairs,  Maj.  Harvey,  who  had  been  up  to  Council  Bluffs  to  complete 
the  Pottawatamie  treaty!  After  denying  to  me  in  St.  Louis  that  he  knew 
anything  of  the  treaty,  Maj.  Harvey  had  gone  to  the  Bluffs  with  Maj.  An 
drews,  who  had  not  landed  in  St.  Louis  for  fear  I  should  see  him,  and  they 
had  completed  the  treaty,  with  the  satisfaction  of  having  escaped  my 
presence  at  the  negotiation.  The  Indians  were  deprived  of  the  presence  of 
the  friend  they  relied  on,  and  I  lost  a  just  compensation  for  honest  services, 
having  made  $600,000  for  the  tribe.  Years  after  I  met  my  old  Interpreter, 
Joseph  Laframboise,  with  two  or  three  others,  in  St.  Louis,  and  when  I 
told  them  how  the  officials  had  behaved  to  me,  they  expressed  their  gratifi 
cation  that  their  trusted  friend  had  not  been  unfaithful.  I  never  knew 
where  the  faithless  action  towards  me  originated.  In  every  proper  way  and 
in  no  other,  I  had  done  a  good  part  to  arrange  the  future  of  the  tribe,  and  to 
serve  the  public  in  extending  the  boundary  of  Iowa  to  the  Missouri  river ; 
but  official  action  that  no  man  of  common  sense  could  have  anticipated, 
deprived  me  of  compensation,  The  French  proverb  says,  *  it  is  only  the  un 
expected  that  happens  '  But  I  have  done  so  much  work  that  has  never 
been  adequately  requited,  that  I  may  as  well  charge  it  all  to  destiny. 

The  Pottawatamies  went  to  Kansas,  where  a  remnant  may  yet  exist  about 
St.  Mary's,  on  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railway.  Their  doom  began  with  the 
treaty  of  1834  at  Chicago. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  221 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

DONIPHAN'S  REGIMENT  ORGANIZED  —  ST.  LOUIS  ARTILLERY — SCHOOL  OF  THE 
TROOPER — LEAVE  FOR  SANTA  FE — SANTA  FE  TRAIL — THE  ARKANSAS  VAL 
LEY — ALL  AT  BENT'S  FORT — PIKE'S  PEAK  IN  THE  DISTANCE — FIRST  AMERI 
CAN  ON  ITS  TOP  — MAJOR  GILPIN'S  VIEWS  —  CAPTAIN  FISHER'S  PEAK- 
PURGATORY  RIVER  AT  WORK  —  IN  AN  UNKNOWN  LAND  —  NO  UNWORTHY 
MILITARY  JEALOUSY— SOME  GEOLOGICAL  SPECULATIONS  —  WORK  OF  EL 
DIAVOLO  —  MINERAL  WEALTH  OF  NEW  MEXICO. 

The  Regiment  of  Missouri  Mounted  Volunteers  (June,  1846),  elected 
William  A.  Doniphan,  Colonel,  and  Charles  Ruff,  Lieutenant  Colonel.  Wil 
liam  Gilpin,  a  Mr.  Hughes,  and  myself  were  candidates  for  Major.  Each 
stood  on  the  parade,  and  the  voters  formed  lines  for  their  choice.  So  there 
was  no  cheating.  Gilpin  had  the  longest  string,  and  mine  was  next.  If 
another  vote  should  be  taken,  the  Hughes  men,  all  from  the  interior,  might 
go  to  Gilpin,  and  elect  him.  As  the  Captain  and  Lieutenants  of  the  Laclede 
Rangers,  in  new  broad  cloth  uniforms,  had  been  a  little  top-lofty  in  bearing 
towards  the  patriotic  volunteers  from  the  rural  districts,  it  was  not  reason 
able  to  expect  their  votes,  and  in  order  not  to  be  defeated,  I  declined  a 
further  trial,  and  Gilpin  became  Major.  Too  late  I  learned  that  if  I  had 
stood  out,  the  Hughes  men  would  have  come  over  to  me,  and  I  would  have 
been  chosen !  The  bump  of  '  caution  '  lost  me  the  rank  of  Major  ;  but  the 
Regiment  had  in  William  Gilpin  an  excellent  Major— the  same  gentleman 
who  has  since  been  Governor  of  Colorado.  A  day  or  two  after  the  election, 
Capt.  John  D.  Stephenson  arrived  with  a  fine  company  from  Franklin 
county,  and  the  Rangers  were  detached  by  Col.  Kearney,  from  Doniphan's 
Regiment,  and  attached  to  the  1st  Regiment  of  U.  8.  Dragoons.  We  were 
thus  in  a  higher  position,  as  we  thought,  than  any  other  volunteer  com 
pany. 

Two  full  companies  of  artillery,  each  one  hundred  strong,  with  Richard 
H.  Weightman  and  Waldemar  Fischer  as  Captains,  arrived  at  Fort  Leaven- 
worth  from  St.  Louis,  under  Merriwether  Lewis  Clarke  as  Major  of  the  bat 
talion.  St.  Louis  had  thus  three  hundred  Alexanders  in  uniform,  each  ready 
to  conquer  a  world  if  he  could  only  get  the  right  kind  of  a  chance.  If  any  of 


222  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

the  artillery  survive,  in  addition  to  Charles  Johnson  of  the  Wabash  railroad, 
I  wish  to  say  for  them  and  their  decendants,  that  a  better  battalion  of  men 
was  seldom,  if  ever,  assembled.  Leonidas  D.  Walker  was  adjutant  of  the 
battalion,  if  I  recollect  rightly ;  but  with  nearly  all  the  other  gallant  gentle 
men  under  Major  Clarke,  he  has  long  since  paid  the  debt  that  none  of  us 
can  defer  or  avoid.  Weigh tman  fell  at  Wilson's  Creek  in  1861. 

While  at  the  Fort  the  Rangers  were  instructed  in  the  *  School  of  the 
Trooper '  by  Lieutenant  Andrew  Jackson  Smith,  1st  Dragoons,  U.  S.  Army. 
He  was  remarkably  well  suited  to  the  task,  not  only  by  natural  ability, 
technical  culture,  and  experience  in  military  life,  but  also  because  of  quali 
ties  the  reader  would  hardly  guess :  his  inexhaustible  patience,  and  his 
apparent  incapacity  to  appreciate  ludicrous  incidents.  No  dulness  or  blun 
ders  on  our  part  ever  ruffled  his  temper,  and  none  of  our  marvellous  feats  of 
horsemanship,  on  untrained  steeds,  and  with  unaccustomed  weapons  in  our 
grasp,  ever  brought  a  smile.  The  exercises  were  mainly  with  sabres,  and  we 
at  times  dashed  over  the  drill  ground— trot !  gallop !  charge !— with  a  reck 
less  disregard  of  consequences,  appalling  to  the  lookers-on,  especially  when 
a  horseman  would  sometimes  be  seen  to  plunge  directly  towards  the  de 
lighted  spectators.  We  were  doing  the  cavalry  tactics,  with  variations 
more  original  than  any  in  the  books.  But  the  toil  of  our  amiable  instructor 
was  not  lost.  We  could  soon  mount  and  ride  with  the  best  of  Uncle  Sam's 
Dragoons,  and  if  we  felt  a  little  pride  in  comparing  ourselves  with  the  patri 
otic  volunteers,  we  had  by  diligent  practice  and  unknown  hazards  entitled 
ourselves  to  indulge  it.  General  A.  J.  Smith,  as  he  is  now  known  in  his  St. 
Louis  home,  has  been  through  so  many  scenes  of  more  consequence,  includ 
ing  his  efficient  command  of  large  forces  between  1861  and  1865,  that  he  has 
probably  forgotten  the  little  episode  of  his  life  that  gave  the  Laclede 
Bangers,  as  we  thought,  the  right  to  claim  superiority  as  the  best  drilled 
mounted  volunteers  in  the  'Army  of  the  West.' 

We  left  Fort  Leaven  worth  June  29, 1846 — several  other  companies  having 
gone  before,  and  some  to  follow.  We  were  on  a  march  of  hundreds  of  miles 
to  Santa  Fe,  and  where  to  beyond  that  point  no  one  knew  or  cared.  Very 
important  consequences  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  followed, 
but  we  had  then  no  idea  what  the  future  was  to  be.  No  thought  of  any 
thing  but  success  in  everything  we  might  undertake  ever  entered  our  heads. 
At  times  it  seemed  more  like  a  pleasure  jaunt  than  a  serious  march  to  invade 
a  distant  province  of  an  enemy,  whose  strength  could  not  be  known.  Reli 
able  information  of  affairs  in  New  Mexico  was  not  to  be  had,  and  neither  the 
authorities  at  Washington,  nor  Col.  Kearney,  knew  what  was  in  store  for 
us.  Every  authentic  tale  differed  from  every  other  authentic  tale,  not  so 
much  from  intended  falsehood  as  from  the  different  aspects  in  which  the 
same  conditions  and  events  appeared  to  different  minds. 

Life  on  the  prairies  had  little  novelty  for  me,  except  in  military  events 
and  duties,  as  I  had  been  on  the  frontier  long  enough  to  be  familiar  with 
out-door  life.  From  old  notes  taken  on  the  march,  I  might,  if  I  had  the 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEAKS.  223 

ability  required,  write  out  a  story  of  more  diversity  and  interest  than 
Irving's  Crayon  Miscellany ;  but  the  day  for  prairie  sketches  has  gone  by, 
as  every  one  can  now  go  out  in  a  Pullman  car  and  see  for  himself.  A  cen 
tury  hence,  some  future  Sir  Walter  may  work  up  long  gone  events  into 
romance,  but  we  are  now  too  near  the  past  and  too  busy. 

We  were  on  the  old  Santa  Fe  trail,  a  broad  and  well  marked  natural  high 
way,  which  had  been  surveyed  under  an  act  of  Congress  of  1824,  and  had 
since  been  the  route  of  wagons  employed  in  commerce  with  New  Mexico, 
Chihuahua,  and  other  parts  of  the  Mexican  Republic.  As  we  neared  the 
Arkansas  river  we  encountered  the  buffalo,  but  our  first  sight  numbered 
only  three  or  four.  Capt.  Hudson,  Lieutenant  Emory  (of  the  Engineers) 
and  myself  gave  chase,  but  the  deceiving  animals,  that  looked  so  unwieldy 
and  ran  so  fast,  led  us  a  long  race  before  we  got  near  enough  for  pistol  prac 
tice,  and  even  then  they  did  not  give  up,  or  rather  come  down.  As  we 
moved  up  the  Arkansas  the  number  of  buffalo  was  beyond  computation, 
and  we  feasted  on  choice  bits,  which  had  the  supreme  relish  that  appetite 
gives. 

It  was  at  times  a  weary  march  up  the  long  valley  of  the  Arkansas,  rising 
about  seven  feet  to  the  mile,  in  a  region  then  apparently  a  waste,  but  now 
with  civilized  people  in  its  entire  length,  and  having  rapid  and  cheap  transit 
by  the  Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  Railroad.  The  millions  of  buffalo 
are  gone  forever,  and  even  the  coyotes  and  prairie  dogs  will  soon  be  extinct. 
Whatever  the  toils  and  enjoyments  of  our  march,  they  can  never  be  repeated, 
as  the  conditions  are  changed  by  invading  civilization.  We  were,  however, 
making  history  in  a  moderate  way,  and  fulfilling  destiny.  The  different 
companies,  squadrons,  commissary  trains,  traders'  wagons,  et  cetera,  were 
strung  out  many  miles  for  convenience  in  marching  and  camping ;  but  the 
entire  Army  of  the  West  was  concentrated  within  cannon  shot  of  Bent's 
Fort  on  the  1st  of  August,  as  designed  by  Col.  Kearney. 

We  had  caught  glimpses  of  Pike's  Peak,  the  historic  mountain  of  the 
great  Rocky  Mountain  system — the  first  of  the  family  south  of  the  Missouri 
to  which  *  the  speech  of  England,'  as  Bryant  phrases  it,  had  given  a  name. 
Major  Zebulon  Montgomery  Pike,  the  intrepid  and  daring  explorer,  who  was 
the  first  to  carry  the  flag  to  that  region,  caught  sight  of  the  mountain  top  on 
the  15th  of  November,  1806,  when,  as  recited  in  his  journal,  it  "appeared 
like  a  small  blue  cloud."  On  the  17th  he  "marched  at  the  usual  hour, 
pushed  with  the  idea  of  arriving  at  the  mountains  ;  but  found  at  night  no 
visible  difference  from  yesterday."  Again  on  the  25th  he  "  marched  early 
with  the  expectation  of  ascending  the  mountain,  but  was  only  able  to  camp 
at  its  base."  Major  Pike  and  his  men  no  doubt  wondered  that  the  march 
was  so  long  to  what  seemed  to  be  so  near  ;  and  many  a  toiling  pilgrim  in  the 
days  of  golden  dreams  in  1859,  heart  sick  with  hope  deferred,  experienced 
the  same  wonder. 

But  we  now  understand  the  remarkable  transparency  of  the  atmosphere 


224  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

so  high  above  the  level  of  tide  water ;  and  we  are  no  longer  surprised  that 
the  old  peak,  so  near  to  the  vision,  is  yet  so  distant  to  the  footstep. 

For  nearly  a  dozen  years  the  locomotive  has  raced  back  and  forth  in  front 
of  Pike's  Peak,  and  there  is  even  a  signal  station  on  its  top ;  but  as  serenely 
as  in  the  long  ago  the  old  mountain  lifts  its  snowy  cope  against  the  infinite 
blue.  Tourists  climb  to  the  summit,  nearly  three  times  the  height  of  Mount 
Washington,  and  over  mountains  on  three  sides,  and  plains  on  the  fourth, 
enjoy  a  view  that  is  beyond  description.  The  towns,  the  farms,  the  ace- 
quias,  even  the  railway  itself,  seem  but  toys  at  the  mountain's  foot.  Man 
has  invaded  the  wilderness  and  erected  his  temples ;  but  he  and  his  works 
are  dwarfed  by  the  majestic  surroundings ;  and  he  cannot,  if  he  would,  im 
pair  the  grandeur  and  sublimity  of  the  scene.  Dr.  James,  attached  to  the 
exploring  party  of  Col.  S.  H.  Long,  in  1820,  ascended  the  peak,  and  he  and 
his  two  men  were  no  doubt  "the  first  Americans,  if  not  the  first  human 
beings,  who  ever  stood  upon  the  summit  of  this  famous  mountain."  Col. 
Long  named  the  mountain  James'  Peak ;  but  Fremont  restored  the  name 
given  it  in  honor  of  the  first  explorer,  and  it  will  be  Pike's  Peak  forever. 
But  even  Major  Pike  was  probably  not  the  first  American  who  saw  the 
Peak  ;  for  he  states  in  his  journal  that  he  met  in  Santa  Fe  one  James  Purs- 
ley,  from  Bardstown,  Kentucky,  "  the  first  American  who  ever  penetrated 
the  immense  wilds  of  western  Louisiana,"  and  who,  as  a  captive  of  the 
Indians,  had  been  taken  into  the  Pike's  Peak  region,  and  was,  in  fact,  the 
first  American  to  find  gold  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Colorado.  Of  late 
years  the  ascent  of  Pike's  Peak  is  often  accomplished,  and  even  by  those  of 
the  gentler  but  now  somewhat  aggressive  sex,  the  first  of  whom  planted  her 
iiny  foot  on  the  mountain  top  in  1859. 

I  could  fill  chapters  with  incidents  of  our  march,  but  need  only  say  that 
we  heard  at  Bent's  Fort  of  formidable  enemies,  somewhere  between  us  and 
Santa  Fe.  We  had  not  seen  any,  except  a  few  unarmed  Mexicans,  on  mules 
and  burros,  who  had  come  out  to  the  Arkansas  to  see  what  was  going  on, 
and  had  been  told  by  the  Colonel  that  if  they  would  look  at  his  mounted 
men,  and  Maj.  Clarke's  big  guns,  they  could  see  that  he  had  force  enough 
to  whip  anything  that  should  dare  to  meet  him,  and  more  were  coming. 

We  had  traversed  the  charming  prairies  of  Kansas,  supposing  them  des 
tined  to  remain  forever  the  pasture  of  the  buffalo  and  the  hunting  ground 
of  the  Indian.  We  had  been  amused  by  the  mirage,  which  often  gave  us 
fine  views  of  illusive  lakes,  and  transformed  the  bluffs  along  the  Arkansas 
into  castles  and  towers,  or  the  edifices  of  magnificent  cities.  We  had  seen 
buffalo,  antelope,  prairie  dogs,  coyotes,  owls  and  rattlesnakes.  We  had 
nearly  "crossed  the  plains"  in  a  month's  ride,  and  had,  as  we  thought, 
penetrated  their  mysteries. 

Yet,  save  Major  Gilpin,  I  suppose  that  not  one  man  in  the  Army  of  the 
West  believed  the  great  plains  would  ever  be  inhabited  by  civilized  man, 
except  perhaps  a  narrow  strip  along  the  west  line  of  Missouri.  Gilpin  was 
regarded  as  a  little  enthusiastic  (to  use  a  mild  term)  on  the  subject  of  "  the 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  225 

great  grazing  region," — "the  land  of  beef  and  wool," — "the  unbounded 
pastoral  domain  of  the  continent,"  as  he  was  in  the  habit  of  phrasing  it. 
He  was  equally  enthusiastic  about  the  mineral  wealth  of  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains,  not  then  discovered,  but  which  he  said  must  exist  in  "the  rhomboid 
masses  of  upheaved  rocks,"  the  "  domes  of  the  continent,"  as  he  called  them. 
Time  has  proved  that  Gilpin  was  right. 

in  the  fall  of  1874  I  passed  our  camp  of  the  last  days  of  July,  1846.  I  was 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Arkansas  river.  There  were  cattle  and  sheep, 
quietly  grazing  on  the  plains.  There  were  dwellings  of  farmers  and  herds 
men.  I  had  gone  in  less  than  thirty  hours  the  distance  which  in  1846  con 
sumed  thirty  days.  I  was  in  the  lively,  bustling  town  of  Las  Animas, 
Colorado. 

On  2nd  August,  1846,  the  Army  of  the  West  moved  forward  on  its  march 
into  New  Mexico.  We  pursued  the  route  now  taken  by  the  Atchison,  To- 
peka  and  Santa  Fe  Railroad,  which  leaves  the  Arkansas  at  the  same  point 
we  left  it  in  1846.  Needless  to  tell  how  dry  and  dusty  the  road  ;  how  brack 
ish  the  water  of  Timpas  creek,  or  how  scarce  at  the  Willows,  or  the  Hole  in 
the  Rock,  or  the  Hole  in  the  Prairie.  Needless  to  tell.  But  in  the  march  of 
four  days  to  the  camp  on  the  Purgatory,  I  think  the  army  in  Flanders  was 
outdone.  "  Our  army  swore  terribly  in  Flanders,"  said  Uncle  Toby ;  but  he 
never  heard  the  Army  of  the  West. 

We  crossed  the  Purgatory,  or  River  of  Souls— Riode  las  Animas  in  Mexi 
can—and  camped  on  its  bank,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Raton  Mountain. 
Magnificent  views  of  mountain  and  plain  had  almost  beguiled  us  into  for- 
getfulness  of  fatigue  and  annoyance  on  the  march.  In  front  was  the  Raton, 
with  its  precipitous  cliffs  and  mesa-like  top,  and  with  its  sentinel  peak  stand 
ing  guard  at  its  northern  end.  During  one  of  our  halts,  Capt.  Waldemar 
Fischer,  of  the  St.  Louis  Artillery,  ascended  the  peak,  and  Lieut.  Emory 
named  it  after  him.  It  is  Fischer's  Peak  on  maps.  Those  of  our  volunteers, 
and  of  the  regulars  with  us,  who  in  New  and  Old  Mexico,  and  in  California, 
perished  in  battle  or  by  disease,  are  nearly  all  forgotten ;  but  the  adopted 
citizen  is  immortal  in  geography.  When  he  came  down  from  the  peak,  he 
said  to  us : 

"Ah,  gentlemens,  I  did  find  a  little  flower  up  dere,  and  did  wish  my 
goot  wife  could  be  dere;  but  I  have  him  — see  — in  my  pocket-book,  and 
I  send  him  in  a  letter,  and  den  she  say — Oh,  if  only  my  Waldemar  was 
here ! " 

To  the  right  of  our  line  of  march  was  the  Spanish  range,  with  its  twin 
peaks  thrust  up  to  the  region  of  perpetual  snow.  To  the  left  were  the  plains, 
diversified  by  ridge  and  mesa  and  butte,  stretching  away  to  indefinite  dis 
tance,  where  you  can  hardly  tell  which  is  plain  and  which  is  sky.  But  we 
were  not  enthusiastic  about  scenery.  We  were  thirsty  ;  and  we  enjoyed,  as 
never  before  any  fluid,  the  sparkling  waters  of  the  Rio  de  las  Animas.  It  is 
a  bold  stream  from  the  mountains,  and  enters  the  Arkansas  near  the  town 
of  Las  Animas. 


226  NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEAKS. 

It  goes  to  meet  the  long  river,  where  now  the  railroad  meets  them  both. 
It  was  gay  and  sportive  when  we  first  saw  it  so  long  ago ;  like  a  young 
spendthrift,  with  never  a  thought  of  care  or  labor.  It  tries  to  be  gay  and 
sportive  yet,  and  starts  out  from  its  mountain  home  in  the  same  perpetual 
frolic  as  of  old.  So  free  and  joyous,  as  it  emerges  from  the  hills,  you  can 
hardly  believe  it  is  ever  to  be  reduced  to  slavery.  Yet  such  is  its  fate. 

They  have  put  it  to  work  in  mills.  They  have  made  it  water  their  fields. 
They  have  harnessed  it  up  in  divers  ways  to  make  it  pull  forward  what 
they  call  the  *  car  of  civilization.'  Our  beautiful  Rio  is  a  servant  and  a 
drudge. 

Trinidad !  This  is  Mexican  or  Spanish  for  Trinity ;  a  name  given  to  a 
town  on  the  bank  of  the  Rio  de  las  Animas.  It  is  a  name  suggesting  holy 
thoughts,  and  possibly  the  Trinidaders  are  holy  people.  I  was  there  in 
October,  1874,  and  again  in  November,  going  to  and  coming  from  New 
Mexico.  I  was  a  coach  passenger,  and  only  stopped  for  meals.  It  was  a 
town  of  life  and  bustle,  and  great  expectations.  The  very  coach  that  carried 
me  had  a  man  whose  purpose  was  to  put  an  additional  yoke  on  the  little 
stream,  and  make  it  work  a  sash  and  door  factory.  A  tyrant  joining  other 
tyrants  to  enslave  the  frolicsome  river.  But  the  railroad  now  runs  past 
Trinidad,  and  has  a  town  of  its  own,  which  I  suppose  does  not  help  the  old 
one  any. 

How  they  do  make  the  little  river  work  !  All  along  they  have  acequias 
to  lead  it  out  on  their  lands,  from  above  Trinidad  to  the  canyon  forty  miles 
below.  But  its  spirit  they  can't  break  ;  for  as  soon  as  it  gets  into  the  friendly 
canyon  it  dashes  on  as  joyous  as  ever,  and  more  triumphant.  Even  as  it 
works  it  goes  purling  and  singing  along,  whenever  it  gets  a  chance.  They 
catch  it  again  below  the  canyon,  and  make  it  water  their  fields,  even  to  the 
shores  of  the  Arkansas. 

We  were  three  days  in  crossing  the  Raton  mountain  in  1846,  passing  the 
coal  vein  already  noted  in  these  chapters.  There  is  coal  still  nearer  the 
town  of  Trinidad,  which  has  thus  both  steam  and  water  power  for  factories. 
Prof.  Le  Conte,  of  Philadelphia,  thinks  the  coal  of  Cretaceous,  and  Dr.  Hay- 
den  of  Tertiary  age.  Prof.  Lesquereux  concurs  with  Hayden.  Whatever 
its  age,  it  is  of  great  value.  It  is  a  sort  of  bituminous  lignite,  and  can  be 
coked.  With  similar  coal,  immense  iron  and  steel  works  are  in  operation  at 
Pueblo,  in  Colorado. 

Our  camp  on  the  south  side  of  the  Raton  was  on  a  little  branch  of  the 
Canadian  river,  that  joins  the  Arkansas  near  Fort  Smith.  We  were  in  a 
land  unknown  to  the  Great  American  public  in  1846 ;  and  not  very  well 
known  yet.  To  Col.  Kearney's  army,  as  we  entered,  it  had  charms  of  mys 
tery,  and  even  a  sort  of  shadowy  grandeur,  which  can  never  be  known 
again.  Our  long  march  across  the  plains  having  lost  all  pleasant  novelty, 
had  become  a  trifle  monotonous ;  but  as  we  approached  and  passed  the 
Raton,  we  had  not  only  more  diversified  outlines  in  the  landscape  to  cheer 
us,  but  also  the  livelier  anticipation  of  scenes  and  events  to  be  enjoyed 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  227 

within  the  month.  Were  we  to  fight,  and  if  so— how  much  ?  Was  the  land 
anywhere  populous,  and  if  so — how  much  ?  Was  it  rich  in  gold  and  silver, 
and  if  so — how  much  ?  Were  the  people  more  civilized  than  savage,  and  if 
so — how  much  ?  Questions  like  these  ran  through  our  circles  like  the  cate 
chism  of  life  insurance.  But  they  only  nerved  us  for  the  coming  fate,  what 
ever  it  might  be.  We  would  take  New  Mexico.  That  was  fixed.  It  was 
part  of  the  land  of  Montezuma,  and  Capt.  Hudson  had  said  in  his  speeches 
that  we  would  "  revel  in  the  halls  of  Montezuma,"  whatever  that  meant. 

The  truth  was,  we  were  in  New  Mexico,  but  not  in  the  peopled  part  of  it. 
We  were  further  in  than  Major  Pike  was  in  1806,  when  the  Mexicans  took 
him  prisoner  as  an  intruder ;  but  all  had  been  an  open  waste  from  the  Mis 
souri,  and  we  had  not  yet  realized  that  we  were  pro  tanto  conquerors.  What 
Col.  Kearney's  plans  and  thoughts  were,  as  we  went  marching  on,  may  have 
been  known  to  Capt.  Henry  S.  Turner,  his  adjutant,  and  to  others  at  head 
quarters.  The  great  mass  of  the  army  only  knew  that  he  was  going  ahead, 
and  taking  us  along.  For  all  we  could  tell,  Armijo,  the  Governor  of  New 
Mexico,  might  meet  us  any  day,  and  get  the  drubbing  we  were  sworn  to 
give  him.  Frank  P.  Blair,  out  in  the  wilds  for  his  health,  and  William  Bent 
— our  scouts — could  only  reconnoitre  a  few  miles  in  advance. 

On  my  coach  trip  in  1874,  we  passed  the  Raton  both  ways  in  the  night ; 
but  I  had  a  daylight  view  of  the  old  camp  ground  of  the  Canadian,  and  of 
the  little  plain  where  the  dragoons  and  Laclede  Rangers  were  put  through  a 
regimental  drill  by  Capt.  Sumner,  and  by  desperate  charges  routed  imaginary 
foes.  Doniphan's  regiment  was  near  us,  jealous  enough  to  witness  our  fear 
ful  plunges  through  the  sage  brush,  and  the  unmerciful  treading  down  of 
cactus  and  yucca.  For  all  they  knew  we  were  practising  for  some  extra- 
hazardous  service,  in  which  they  were  not  to  share,  and  would  gather  so 
many  laurels  there  would  be  none  left  for  them. 

As  to  jealousy  in  military  circles,  there  is  melancholy  amusement  in 
reading  some  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  to  see  how 
certain  human  nature  is  to  have  its  way,  even  in  the  heroic  epoch  of  a  nation. 
Trumbull's  Reminiscences  and  Graydon's  Memoirs  are  in  point.  We  learn 
that  even  in  the  days  of  heroes  and  sages,  as  we  used  to  talk  of  them  on  the 
Fourth  of  July,  there  were  petty  jealousies  abroad.  Brave  men  thought  it 
more  honorable  to  abandon  the  colonial  service  than  to  wait  a  little  for  pro 
motion.  Our  brothers  of  Doniphan's  Regiment  did  not  in  pique  emulate 
examples  to  be  found  in  Revolutionary  history,  nor  think  of  so  doing.  They 
only  vowed,  in  language  somewhat  emphatic,  that  no  regular  troops  or  St. 
Louis  volunteers  should  do  better  work  than  the  "country  boys;"  and  in 
due  time  made  the  vow  good  at  Brazito  and  Sacramento.  In  trulh,  Doni- 
phan  and  his  regiment  were  a  hard  lot  to  scare.  They  did  not  know  what 
fear  meant.  Not  pretty  soldiers  for  show,  perhaps,  but  first-class  for  ser 
vice.  They  afterwards  marched  a  thousand  or  two  miles  into  Mexico,  not 
knowing  what  was  before  them,  and  nothing  behind  to  fall  back  on. 

Trinidad  in  Colorado,  is  on  the  north  side  of  the  Raton,  but  some  thirty 


228  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEATCS. 

miles  before  reaching  it  in  1874.  on  the  coach  road,  I  saw  abundant  evidences 
of  eruptive  action.  The  cretaceous  and  tertiary  strata,  generally  horizontal 
in  the  plains,  are  disturbed  in  some  localities  near  Trinidad,  and  in  others 
apparently  lifted  up  bodily,  while  over  large  areas  they  are  concealed  by 
later  drift.  The  Raton  mountain  seems  to  have  been  heaved  up  in  a  mass, 
and  part  of  its  top  is  a  wide  mesa  or  table,  with  precipitous  sides.  The 
upper  portion  of  the  mountain,  where  the  old  road  crossed,  seven  thousand 
five  hundred  feet  above  sea  level,  seems  to  be  a  heavy  layer  of  trap  or  igne 
ous  rock,  generally  supposed  to  have  been  poured  out  in  a  fluid  condition 
from  some  tremendous  volcano  in  the  olden  times.  Northeast  from  Trinidad 
there  is  a  profusion  of  lav i -like  cobble  stones  in  the  gullies ;  and  thirty  miles 
out  in  the  plain  there  is  a  remarkable  dyke  of  apparently  plutonic  rock, 
whose  trend  is  in  line  with  the  two  high  cones  known  as  the  Spanish  Peaks, 
which  are  said  by  Dr.  Hay  den  to  be  of  volcanic  origin  in  long  past  ages. 

Quien  sabc  ? — which  is  Spanish  or  Mexican  for — who  knows  ?  Verily,  I 
cannot  undertake  to  account  for  the  varied  topography ;  but  I  can  enjoy  the 
magnificent  views  from  the  Raton  ;  I  can  admire  the  twin  peaks  with  their 
copes  of  snow  even  in  midsummer ;  I  can  rejoice  to  see  the  cattle,  horses  and 
sheep,  the  towns  and  farms,  where  all  was  unused  nature  in  1846 ;  and  I 
value  as  they  merit,  the  coal  and  iron,  and  ores  of  precious  metals  in  the 
recesses  of  the  mountains  ;  but  I  cannot  tell  how  the  minerals  got  there. 

Yet  why  not  have  a  theory  ?  I  have  been  careful  to  speak  of  u  eruptive 
action,"  and  to  use  the  term  "volcanic"  only  when  I  give  the  ideas  of 
others.  I  am  not  as  a  general  thing  sure  about  the  volcanoes.  It  appears 
to  me  that  if  all  the  disturbances  of  strata  and  outpouring  of  trap  or  igneous 
rock,  of  which  we  have  so  many  evidences  in  New  Mexico,  had  been  due 
generally  to  volcanic  action,  as  usually  understood,  there  would  have  been 
left  numerous  old  craters  and  other  marks  by  which  we  could  locate  the 
scenes  of  greatest  activity.  But  there  are  few  if  any  such  old  craters  to  be 
found,  at  least  such  as  can  be  distinctly  identified ;  and  I  am  therefore 
inclined  to  the  belief  that  the  disturbances  of  the  earth's  crust  may  have 
been  the  cause  and  not  the  consequence  of  the  action  classed  as  u  volcanic" 
by  most  of  those  who  have  described  the  geological  features. 

If  we  suppose  the  earth's  crust  to  have  contracted  in  cooling,  and  to  have 
been  ruptured  by  the  tension  because  of  the  heated  inner  rrass  not  contract 
ing  so  rapidly  as  the  cooling  crust,  we  can  readily  understand  how  the  shell 
could  be  broken,  and  how  the  fused  matter  of  the  interior  could  come  up 
through  fissures  thus  caused  and  flow  over  the  surface ;  and  how  the  rent 
strata  could  be  tilted  up  at  various  angles.  This  might  be  styled  eruptive, 
but  not  strictly  volcanic,  action  ;  and  it  would  I  think  suffice  to  produce  the 
geological  conditions  found  in  New  Mexico  and  adjacent  regions. 

We  find  evidence,  too,  that  the  breaking  of  the  crust,  the  uplifting 
of  the  sedimentary  rocks,  the  protrusion  of  granitic  masses,  and  the  out 
pouring  of  lava  and  basalt  over  wide  regions  (and  now  seen  capping  hills 
and  spread  over  broad  mesas),  probably  took  place  while  the  old  tertiary 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  229 

ocean  covered  that  part  of  the  continent ;  and  that  the  ocean  remained  long 
enough  for  its  currents  to  further  modify  the  surface  during  the  succeeding 
glacial  and  drift  periods.  By  a  gradual  up-swelling,  the  central  plateau  of 
the  continent  was  subsequently  lifted  out  of  the  water  to  perhaps  its  present 
elevation  ;  or  the  sinking  of  the  classic  Atlantis  or  some  other  continent 
unknown  to  history  or  fable,  may  have  simply  made  room  for  the  ocean  to 
drain  off.  Quien  sabc  f 

The  results  of  the  tremendous  commotions  so  long  ago,  when  El  Diavolo 
was  at  work,  as  an  honest  Mexican  assured  me,  are  seen  in  the  numerous 
ranges  of  mountains  which  diversify  New  Mexico,  and  in  the  mineral  veins 
and  deposits  so  profusely  scattered  through  them.  For  the  benefit  of  civil 
ized  man,  the  strata  were  turned  topsy-turvy,  and  the  veins  and  deposits 
of  ores  yielding  iron,  lead,  copper,  silver  and  gold  were  placed  within  our 
reach.  In  view  of  economic  possibilities  the  geology  of  the  country  has  for 
its  student  a  practical  as  well  as  abstract  interest.  The  great  fact  may  be 
considered  established,  that  JSew  Mexico,  as  well  as  Colorado  and  Arizona, 
is  passing  rich  in  minerals,  and  that  many  localities  give  promise  of  good 
returns  for  exploitation.  If  lucre  is  really  a  filthy  thing — of  which  my  experi 
ence  does  not  enable  me  to  judge — perhaps,  after  all,  El  Diavolo,  as  my  Mexi 
can  friend  said,  may  have  had  a  hand  in  placing  these  enormous  riches 
where  they  can  be  got  at  to  possibly  debase  mankind. 

Our  march  in  1846,  on  half  rations  and  no  salt,  was  too  rapid  for  much 
examination  of  thfc.  country,  and  for  one  I  had  not  knowledge  enough  to 
understand  it.  Iron  ores  and  coal  I  knew  at  sight,  but  beyond  these  a  rock 
was  a  rock,  and  nothing  more,  except  some  dykes  near  the  Canadian  look 
ing  like  artificial  walls, — some  lava  boulders  near  Rayado  creek, — and  some 
petrified  trunks  of  cedar  trees  on  Bio  Galisteo,  twenty  miles  south  of  Santa 
Fe.  But  in  twenty-eight  years,  from  '46  to  '74,  I  had  been  in  some  mines — 
once  having  been  amazingly  rich  in  anticipation  from  a  copper  mine  in  Mis 
souri — and  I  supposed  myself  to  have  learned  some  outlines  of  geology.  So 
during  my  coach  journey,  I  almost  thought  I  knew  it  all. 

From  the  nether  base  of  the  Raton  mountain  by  the  old  road  to  Las 
Vegas,  as  well  as  by  the  present  railroad,  we  are  for  most  of  the  distance  in 
a  broad  valley,  or  plain,  diversified  by  mesas  and  buttes,  and  intersected  by 
shallow  wadies,  mostly  with  water  flowing  or  in  pools.  In  every  direction, 
among  the  hills  to  the  westward,  or  in  the  plain  to  the  eastward,  there  is 
excellent  grazing  from  one  horizon  to  the  other.  In  the  hills  west  are  coal 
veins,  and  in  the  mountain  ranges,  in  which  the  Cimaron,  Rayado  and  other 
streams  originate,  there  are  veins  of  gold  quartz,  while  in  the  little  valleys, 
hemmed  in  by  the  mountains,  there  are  placer  workings  which  are  said  to 
yield  lavish  returns.  But  I  had  no  time  in  1846  to  look  for  mines,  and  in 
1874  had  no  money.  I  left  all  the  vast  wealth  to  others,  and  many  are  now 
in  search  of  it. 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

CONQUERING  NEW  MEXICO— A  GALLANT  CHARGE— LAMENT  FOR  CAESAR — GOV 
ERNOR  ARMIJO'S  LETTER — AN  ORDERLY  CAMP — LAS  VEGAS  TAKEN — SOLEMN 
PROMISES  NOT  KEPT  —  INJUSTICE  TO  MEXICAN  LANDOWNERS — OLD  LAS 
VEGAS  IN  1874  —  THE  RAILROAD  AND  NEW  CITY — THE  HOT  SPRINGS  AND 
MONTEZUMA  HOTEL — THE  GOOD  DOMINIE — BATTLE  OF  PUERTO  DEL  PADRE 
—TOURISTS  AND  RELICS. 

The  Army  of  the  West,  August  13,  1846,  marched  into  the  broad  plain 
and  valley  of  the  Moro,  beyond  the  supposed  volcanic  hills  near  the  Ocate, 
where  the  porous  boulders  of  scoriae,  as  stated  by  Emory  and  repeated  by 
Hayden,  are  so  light  as  to  be  blown  about  by  the  winds.  Our  camp  had 
been  in  the  plain  at  the  Santa  Clara  pools,  near  where  Fort  Union  now 
stands.  The  Laclede  Rangers  were  in  advance,  and  we  had  not  gone  far 
when  a  hostile  force  was  seen  in  the  distance.  The  colonel  halted  us  ;  the 
glass  was  levelled:  " Mexicans  or  Indians!"  The  enemy  at  last!  We 
could  all  see  them  with  the  naked  eye.  The  old  mountaineer,  Fitzpatrick, 
smiled  quietly  and  said  nothing.  Lieut.  Emory  was  ordered  to  take  a 
dozen  men  and  reconnoitre.  While  Sergt.  Alex.  Patterson,  now  a  quiet 
citizen  of  Butler,  Missouri,  was  selecting  the  braves,  I  asked  permission  of 
Capt.  Thos.  B.  Hudson  to  volunteer,  and  we  trotted  off  as  rapidly  as  our 
jaded  horses  could  carry  us.  It  was  exhiliraiing. 

A  fight!  A  victory !  In  imagination  the  St.  Louis  newspapers  already 
had  the  bulletin,  with  big  type  at  the  top.  Trot,  trot,  trot !  The  enemy 
stood  fast.  We  were  glad  they  did  not  run  and  cheat  us  of  our  victory ;  but 
when  we  charged  down  upon  them,  they  turned  out  to  be  only  a  cedar-post 
corral !  What  with  the  mirage,  the  weariness  of  our  eyes  from  the  long 
march  over  the  plains  and  our  desire  for  a  fight,  we  had  mistaken  the  harm 
less  timbers  for  Mexican  enemies.  Fitzpatrick's  eye,  trained  by  long  usage, 
had  seen  things  as  they  were,  but  even  with  the  field-glass,  other  eyes  had 
been  deceived. 

"  Six  miles,"  says  Emory  in  his  journal,  u  brought  us  to  the  first  settle 
ment  we  had  seen  in  seven  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles."  There  were 
only  two  houses  at  Moro  creek,  but  they  were  the  first  we  had  seen  since 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  231 

leaving  the  Missouri  frontier.  On  my  coach  journey  in  1874  I  was  never 
twenty  miles  from  a  house,  settlement  or  town  from  the  Arkansas  to  the 
Sapillo,  and  there  I  found  ranches  and  farms  in  every  direction  through 
the  wide  reach  of  arable  and  pasture  lands.  The  old  town  of  Moro  was  not 
seen  on  our  march.  It  is  in  the  hills  to  the  west,  where  a  small  valley  has 
been  under  irrigation  for  perhaps  a  century ;  but  in  the  plain  there  is  only 
the  civilization  introduced  since  the  conquest.  Greatly  did  I  enjoy  the 
coaching  trip  in  1874.  It  is  so  charming  to  visit  a  country  which  you  have 
conquered  in  earlier  days,  when  it  had  no  people  in  it,  and  find  happy 
homes  and  increasing  population.  I  am  touched  with  melancholy  when 
I  think  of  Csesar ;  not  so  much  because  Brutus  killed  him,  as  because  the 
poor  -fellow  never  enjoyed  the  felicity  of  returning  to  Gaul  after  28  years' 
absence  to  find  broad  regions  full  of  people,  where  all  was  desolation  when 
he  conquered  the  country. 

Soon  after  the  army  moved  from  our  camp  on  the  Sapillo  next  day,  under 
a  brilliant  sun,  after  a  night  of  showers — for  what  they  call  by  a  pleasant 
figure  of  speech  the  rainy  season  of  New  Mexico  was  upon  us — we  were  met 
by  a  messenger  from  Gov.  Armijo,  bearing  a  very  formidable  looking  letter 
to  Col.  Kearney.  It  was  a  sensible  straightforward  document,  says  Emory, 
and  if  written  by  an  Englishman  or  an  American  would  have  meant  this  : 
"  You  have  notified  me  that  you  intend  to  take  possession  of  the  country  I 
govern.  The  people  have  risen  in  my  defence.  If  you  take  the  country  it 
will  be  because  you  are  strongest  in  battle.  I  suggest  to  you  to  stop  at  Sa 
pillo,  and  I  will  march  to  Las  Vegas.  We  will  meet  and  negotiate  on  the 
plains  between." 

If  this  was  intended  to  scare  the  colonel,  it  failed ;  but  some  caution  was 
necessary,  and  so  he  very  politely  dismissed  the  messenger.  "  The  road  to 
Santa  Fe  is  as  free  to  you  as  to  myself.  Say  to  Gen.  Armijo  that  I  shall  soon 
meet  him,  and  that  I  hope  it  will  be  as  friends."  Precisely  what  this  reply 
meant  was  not  very  clear,  but  it  was  probably  drawn  mild  on  account  of 
the  position  of  Maj.  Philip  St.  George  Cooke,  some  days  before  sent  forward 
to  Santa  Fe  with  a  flag  and  only  a  small  escort,  and  who  had  not  yet  been 
heard  from.  In  conquering  a  country  it  is  proper  to  be  a  little  on  your 
guard  when  you  get  near  the  inhabited  parts.  Besides,  we  had  heard  that 
Armijo  was  preparing  to  resist  us  at  Apache  canyon,  fifteen  miles  from 
Santa  Fe — a  narrow  gorge  which  he  had  fortified,  but  where  the  colonel 
knew  it  was  not  necessary  to  fight  him,  as  the  position  could  be  turned  by 
another  road. 

In  the  afternoon  we  reached  the  valley  of  Gallinas  creek,  and  camped  in 
view  of  Las  Vegas.  It  was  an  old  town,  built  of  adobes  or  sun-dried  bricks, 
each  particular  house  suggesting  the  idea  of  a  brick-kiln  ready  for  burning ; 
but  we  learned  afterwards  by  experience  that  houses  so  constructed,  with 
their  earth  covering  for  roofs,  are  delightfully  cool  in  summer  and  warm  in 
winter.  The  Spanish  intruders  who  had  come  in  about  three  centuries  be 
fore,  had  modified  the  old  Aztec  multistorious  domicil,  and  built  as  a  rule 


232  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

only  one-story,  but  I  think  did  not  lack  wisdom  in  building  of  such  cheap 
and  durable  materials.  I  doubt  if  a  hundred  houses  in  New  Mexico  have 
been  damaged  by  fire  since  the  advent  of  the  dons.  Only  the  scanty  wood 
work  can  be  burnt — the  walls  are  fire-proof. 

"  Our  camp,"  says  Emory,  "extended  for  a  mile  down  the  valley.  On 
one  side  was  the  stream ;  on  the  other  the  corn  fields,  with  no  hedge  or 
fence  intervening.  What  a  tantalizing  prospect  for  our  hungry,  jaded  nags ! 
The  water  was  free,  but  a  chain  of  sentinels  was  posted  to  protect  the  corn, 
and  strict  orders  given  that  it  should  not  be  disturbed/'  Some  idea  of  the 
discipline  of  Col.  Kearney's  army  may  be  had  from  the  fact  that,  although 
we  had  marched  eight  hundred  miles,  crossed  the  "Great  American  Desert," 
and  were  in  the  enemy's  country,  which  we  were  conquering  day  by  day — 
yet  not  one  plant  or  blade  of  corn  was  disturbed.  Poor  old  Missouri!  I 
look  back  on  our  forbearance  that  memorable  night  as  the  sublime  heroism 
of  self-denial. 

"At  12  o'clock  last  night,"  Emory  notes  August  15,  "information  was 
received  that  600  men  had  collected  at  the  pass,  two  miles  distant,  and 
would  oppose  our  march.  In  the  morning  orders  were  given  to  prepare  to 
meet  the  enemy.  At  7  o'clock  the  army  moved,  and  just  as  we  made  the 
road  leading  through  the  town,  Maj.  Swords,  Lieut.  Gilmer  and  Capt. 
Weightman  joined  us,  and  presented  Col.  Kearney  with  his  commission  as 
brigadier-general.  They  had  heard  we  were  to  have  a  battle,  and  rode 
sixty  miles  during  the  night  to  be  in  it." 

It  looks  queer  that  men  should  ride  so  far  in  the  dark  just  to  get  into  a 
fight,  but  ride  they  did.  The  prospect  of  a  battle  seemed  inspiring.  On  the 
14th  the  Rangers  had  six  or  seven  men  "  on  sick  report,"  but  011  the  morn 
ing  of  the  15th  all  were  in  the  saddle,  marching  on  to  battle.  Exhilaration 
pervaded  the  ranks  as  cartridge-boxes  were  filled  for  the  conflict.  The  mas 
culine  human  creature  seems  to  have  a  natural  taste  for  "  battle,  murder  and 
sudden  death."  Thank  heaven  for  the  feminine ! 

At  8  o'clock  we  took  the  town  of  Las  Vegas,  not  by  shooting  off  guns,  but 
by  quietly  marching  in.  It  is  the  historic  town  of  Uncle  Sam's  domain,  as 
the  first  on  soil  then  foreign  ever  captured  by  his  irresistible  nephews.  The 
general  got  on  the  roof  of  a  house  to  swear  in  the  alcalde  and  make  an  Ameri 
can  citizen  of  him,  in  the  bright  sunshine  and  in  view  of  all  the  people,  while 
the  unterrified  soldiers  sat  on  their  horses  in  the  plaza  or  public  square,  fear 
lessly  looking  on.  The  civil  reader  who  has  never  seen  war  may  possibly 
think  it  a  small  matter  to  take  a  town  in  that  way,  but  I  can  assure  him  it 
is  a  very  comfortable  way  for  both  takers  and  taken  ;  and  the  reduction  of 
Las  Vegas  was  an  important  occurrence,  in  view  of  the  ceremonies  in 
dulged  in. 

The  general  made  a  good  speech,  well  meant,  but  which,  without  any 
fault  of  his,  turned  out  to  be  somewhat  of  a  delusion  if  not  a  snare.  A  few 
passages  may  be  quoted  for  the  use  of  historical  students : 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEAKS.  233 

"MB.  ALCALDE  AND  PEOPLE  OF  NEW  MEXICO  — I  have  come  amongst 
you  by  orders  of  my  government  to  take  possession  of  your  country  and  ex 
tend  over  it  the  laws  of  the  United  States.  *  *  *  *  We  come  amongst 
you  as  friends,  not  as  enemies ;  as  protectors,  not  as  conquerors.  Hence 
forth  I  absolve  you  from  all  allegiance  to  the  Mexican  government,  and 
from  all  obedience  to  Gov.  Armijo.  *  *  *  *  I  shall  not  expect  you  to 
take  up  arms  to  fight  your  own  people,  who  may  oppose  me ;  but  I  now  tell 
you  that  those  who  remain  peaceably  at  home,  attending  to  their  crops  and 
herds,  shall  be  protected  by  me  in  their  property,  their  persons  and  their 
religion,  and  not  a  pepper  or  an  onion  shall  be  taken  by  my  troops  without 
pay  or  by  the  consent  of  the  owner.  But  listen !  He  who  promises  to  be 
quiet  and  is  found  in  arms  against  me,  I  will  hang." 

80  far,  so  good.  By  the  American  soldiers,  as  I  can  vouch  for  the  ten 
months  I  remained  in  the  country,  the  people  were  unmolested  and  the 
general's  words  were  made  good.  We  paid  for  everything,  and  I  never  heard 
of  a  case  of  theft  or  outrage.  But  he  promised  more : 

1 '  From  the  Mexican  government  you  have  never  received  protection 
The  Apaches  and  Navajos  come  down  from  the  mountains  and  carry  off 
your  sheep,  and  even  your  women,  whenever  they  please.   The  government 
will  correct  all  this.    It  will  keep  off  the  Indians,  protect  you  in  your  per 
sons  and  property,  and  I  repeat  again,  will  protect  you  in  your  religion." 

These  were  brave  words,  authorized  by  orders  from  Washington,  and 
believed  by  the  general  when  uttered.  So  far  as  religion  and  the  general 
treatment  of  Mexicans  by  the  Americans  is  concerned,  the  promises  have 
been  fairly  performed.  But  the  protection  against  Indians,  so  solemnly 
promised,  and  the  mention  of  which  caused  the  Las  Vegas  alcalde  to  grin 
with  satisfaction,  has  never  been  realized.  The  people  of  New  Mexico  never 
received  the  protection  against  the  savages  promised  by  Gen.  Kearney. 
His  pledges,  made  in  good  faith,  were  for  more  than  a  third  of  a  century 
practically  repudiated  by  the  authorities  at  Washington.  Yet  the  much- 
abused  people  of  the  territory  remained  loyal  to  a  government  that  had  not 
kept  its  pledges,  and  only  a  few  manifested  any  hostile  spirit  from  1861  to 
1865. 

The  failure  to  control  the  Indians  was  not  only  a  flagrant  violation  of 
good  faith  but  did  much  to  retard  the  growth  of  the  territory.  Ignorance, 
stupidity,  conceit  and  red  tape  at  Washington — possibly  with  a  little  spice 
of  fraud  mixed  in — have  caused  many  lives  to  be  sacrified,  and  many  homes 
to  be  desolated  ;  and  at  last  the  Indian  evils  will  be  finally  cured,  rather  by 
the  private  purses  that  build  railroads  into  the  country,  stock  its  pastures 
and  open  its  mines,  than  by  the  government  at  Washington,  which  has  never 
yet  handled  the  Indian  problem  with  common  sense. 

Nor  has  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  made  with  Mexico  at  the  close,, 
of  the  wicked  war  with  that  country,  been  executed  in  New  Mexico  by  our 
government.  It  provided  that  Mexicans  who  remained  in  the  ceded  country 
should  have  their  possessions  assured  to  them  ;  which  meant  that  the  own- 


234  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

ers  of  lands  should  hold  their  possessions  without  disturbance.  It  was  sup 
posed  that  if  the  United  States  should  claim  any  part  of  the  territory  as 
public  domain  the  government  would  at  its  own  cost  find  out  what  it  might 
be  entitled  to,  and  in  doing  this  necessarily  ascertain  the  boundaries  of  pri 
vate  estates.  But  Congress  has  required  all  claimants  of  lands  under  Spanish 
or  Mexican  laws  to  pay  for  the  surveys,  and  after  this  injustice  is  submit 
ted  to  (by  those  who  can't  help  themselves),  the  boundaries  are  reduced  and 
the  estates  cut  down  to  suit  the  whims  or  interests  of  the  gentlemen  who 
manage  the  General  Land  Office,  and  those  in  the  capital  who  pass  the  acts. 
The  result  has  been  that  Mexicans,  whose  families  have  had  undisputed 
possession  of  lands  for  a  century  and  more,  have  had  no  assurance  that  they 
could  continue  to  hold  an  acre.  The  protection  to  property  promised  at  Las 
Vegas  failed,  and  land  tenure  has  been  in  little  better  condition  than  in 
Turkey.  Imbecility  and  dishonesty,  instead  of  statesmanship,  too  often 
ruled  on  the  Potomac. 

Las  Vegas  was  not  in  1874  the  same  town  it  was  when  we  took  it  in  1846. 
The  old  Campo  Santo  or  burial  place,  with  its  stone  wall,  was  on  the  mesa 
as  of  yore,  but  fuller  of  dead  humanity.  The  living  town  had  also  increased 
considerably  in  population,  and  was  doing  a  large  business  in  hides,  wool 
and  varied  merchandise.  It  had  many  new  buildings,  some  of  large  size ; 
and  also  public  schools,  and  churches  of  several  denominations.  It  had 
three  newspapers,  one  of  them  a  church  journal.  Daily  coaches  and  wagon 
trains  gave  an  air  of  life  and  bustle,  as  the  town  was  the  gateway  to  a  large 
portion  of  the  territory.  All  this,  when  the  railroad  was  yet  a  dream  of  the 
hopeful  and  visionary,  nine  years  ago.  But  now  the  Atchison,  Topeka  and 
Santa  Fe  Railroad  is  along  there,  and  a  new  Las  Vegas,  apart  from  the 
quiet  old  town,  has  been  built  and  flourishes.  The  hot  springs,  which  were 
so  useful  in  1846-7,  to  cleanse  a  red  flannel  shirt  of  the  living  as  well  as  life 
less  results  of  long  wear  and  contact  with  the  natives,  has  now  a  grand  hotel 
which  would  overawe  Montezuma  with  its  splendors,  although  named  after 
him ;  and,  generally  speaking,  everything  is  new.  The  Boston  man  with 
his  cash  has  been  there,  and  the  solitude  in  which  Dr.  De  Camp  had  his 
army  hospital  thirty-six  years  ago  is  invaded  by  the  railroad,  the  porter  and 
the  hotel  clerk. 

As  to  the  new  city  of  Las  Vegas,  long  may  it  wave !  The  good  dominie, 
Rt.  Rev,  G.  K.  Dunlop,  so  long  our  Rector  in  the  parish  of  Grace  Church,  in 
Kirkwood,  has  his  home  there,  as  Bishop  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona.  His 
presence  will  save  it. 

After  we  had  taken  the  old  town,  the  Army  of  the  West  moved  on  to 
battle.  The  hostiles  were  said  to  be  posted  at  El  Puerto  del  Padre — literally 
the  door  or  gate  of  the  priest— where  the  remarkable  strata  of  rocks,  tilted 
-up  to  nearly  a  vertical  position,  bound  the  valley  on  the  west,  and  have 
been  cut  through  by  a  wet  weather  water  course.  While  the  general  was 
engaged  in  transmuting  the  alcalde  and  his  townsmen  into  free  and  happy 
American  citizens,  two  companies  of  infantry  or  dismounted  troopers  had 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  235 

gone  forward  to  cross  the  hills  near  the  Puerto,  their  movement  so  timed 
that  they  would  come  on  the  field  of  battle  just  as  the  Rangers,  dragoons  and 
artillery  would  be  routing  the  enemy,  and  could  be  of  great  use  in  helping 
to  bury  the  dead.  The  main  road  approaches  the  Puerto  close  to  and  paral 
lel  with  the  ridge,  making  a  short  turn  to  enter  the  pass  ;  and  when  within 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  battle  ground  the  command  "  trot !  march !  "  was 
given — then  "gallop!" — then  "charge!"  and  with  sabres  flashing,  we 
hurled  ourselves  at  the  foe— the  artillery  of  Maj.  Clarke's  battalion  (St. 
Louis  men)  rumbling  close  behind  us  to  do  the  heavy  work.  We  were 
splendidly  supported  also  by  the  soldiers  on  foot,  who  had  crossed  the  sum 
mit  and  with  reckless  bravery  were  descending  the  inner  slope  of  the  hill  as 
we  thundered  through  the  gorge.  The  cavalry  drill  at  the  Canadian,  men 
tioned  in  a  former  chapter,  was  a  sort  of  sham  fight,  and  the  charge  of 
Emory,  Patterson  and  myself  with  our  dozen  desperate  heroes  on  the  cedar 
corral  had  a  sort  of  tittillating  effect  on  the  risibilities.  But  our  work  at 
the  classic  Puerto  del  Padre  was  in  sober  earnest,  and  I  have  never  doubted 
that  we  should  have  covered  ourselves  with  glory  as  well  as  dust  but  for 
one  circumstance,  inevitably  fatal  to  military  distinction — which  was  that 
that  there  was  no  hostile  force  at  the  Puerto,  and  had  not  been  probably 
since  the  days  of  Coronado,  three  hundred  years  before. 

Whether  the  general  had  really  believed  that  our  heroic  march  was  to 
be  resisted  at  that  identical  spot  or  only  wanted  to  try  our  mettle  we  never 
knew,  but  we  had  proved  our  courage  according  to  orders.  During  the  rest 
of  the  day  flankers  were  kept  out,  but  no  hostiles  were  discovered,  and  after 
a  march  of  nineteen  miles  and  capturing  the  town  of  Tucalote  as  we  went 
along  (where  we  met  Maj.  Cooke  on  his  return),  we  went  into  camp  at  night 
to  dream  of  bloodless  victories,  which  after  all  are  a  pretty  kind  to  gain 
when  you  are  conquering  a  province.  Neither  Caesar  nor  Napoleon  could 
have  made  a  better  fight  under  the  circumstances  than  we  did,  nor  could 
either  ever  gain  a  victory  with  less  loss  than  ours  at  Puerto  del  Padre. 
Tourists  to  Las  Vegas  hot  springs  can  take  a  horseback  ride  along  the  ridge 
to  the  battle  ground,  and  can  chip  off  all  the  bits  of  rock  they  want  as  me 
mentoes,  but  fortunately  there  are  no  grave-stones  for  the  simpletons  with 
more  money  than  brains  to  mutilate.  Uncle  Sam  is  fortunate  in  having  one 
battle  ground  in  his  domain  where  the  senseless  and  selfish  relic-hunters 
can  do  no  harm. 


236  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

MARCHING  ON  THE  CAPITAL — A  SUPPER  OF  SPOON  FOOD— ARMIJO'S  FORTIFI 
CATIONS—CAPTURED  CANNONS  — FLYING  ARTILLERY  IN  POSITION  — SANTA 
FE  TAKEN — A  MEMORABLE  NIGHT — OFFICER  OF  THE  GUARD — THE  WHOLE 
TERRITORY  OURS — SEVENTY-SEVEN  MILLION  ACRES — ALTITUDE  AND  STREAMS 
—CLIMATE  AND  PRODUCTIONS— POOR  OLD  MISSOURIANS. 

Having  worried  along  on  roads  leading  over  sharp  and  rocky  hills  and 
through  waste  valleys,  and  taking  the  town  of  San  Miguel  as  we  marched 
on,  conquering  and  to  conquer,  we  camped  on  the  16th  on  the  banks  of  the 
Pecos  river,  its  red  waters  and  flooded  condition  telling  of  rains  in  the  moun 
tains  to  the  west.  On  the  evening  of  the  17th  we  made  our  camp  at  the  vil 
lage  of  Pecos,  near  the  ruins  of  Aztec  structures  and  edifices  of  Spanish 
origin ;  but  no  archaeological  temptation  could  lure  us  from  the  important 
duties  of  eating  and  sleeping.  Fortunately  the  village  was  too  small  for 
even  a  speech  from  the  general  or  the  usual  swearing-in  process  (both  re 
quired  at  Tucalote  and  San  Miguel),  and  it  was  conquered  not  only  without 
gunpowder,  but  also  without  promises  or  pledges.  Jaded  animals,  with 
scant  forage,  and  hungry  men,  fuller  of  vim  than  rations,  made  up  the  Army 
of  the  West,  but  we  might  go  to  sleep  with  the  consciousness  of  duty  per 
formed.  We  had  made  the  longest  march  in  American  history,  and  had 
been  victorious  over  all  obstacles. 

Three  of  us  having  called  at  the  alcalde's  mansion  of  one  story  and  two 
rooms,  had  a  supper  of  green  peas  in  mutton  broth,  relished  as  heartily  as 
if  the  native  earthen  pot  in  which  they  were  served  had  been  scoured  within 
the  half  year  preceding.  We  had  long  before  ceased  to  be  fastidious  in  little 
matters  of  pots,  pans  or  cookery,  and  we  rather  astonished  our  host  and  his 
senora  by  the  manner  in  which  the  broth  was  dipped  up  by  all  from  the 
same  reservoir  and  swallowed,  spoons  and  all.  Pieces  of  tortilla  (a  thin 
cake)  made  the  spoons,  folded  to  contain  some  of  the  broth  and  peas,  and 
the  spoons  and  their  contents  went  down  together.  It  was  a  novel  banquet, 
for  which  our  host  would  only  accept  payment  after  one  of  us  who  could 
"habla"  Spanish  a  little  managed  to  make  him  understand  that  if  he 
wished  to  be  regarded  as  a  good  "Americano"  he  must  take  everything 
he  could  get  his  hands  on,  honestly  of  course. 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  TEARS.  237 

In  the  early  hours  of  August  18,  1846,  a  day  that  ought  to  be  memorable 
as  the  first  in  which  an  army  under  the  high  bird  of  liberty  ever  captured 
the  chief  city  of  an  enemy's  province,  we  were  in  motion'  for  a  march  of 
twenty-nine  miles  to  Santa  Fe.  By  ten  o'clock  the  Rangers  and  dragoons 
had  reached  the  eastern  entrance  of  Apache  canyon,  and  there  waited  in  a 
park  of  fair  grazing  for  the  artillery  and  Doniphan's  regiment  to  come  up. 
The  native  potato  was  in  bloom,  and  there  were  tubers  about  the  size  of 
small  hickory  nuts.  The  potato  had  never  been  cultivated  in  New  Mexico, 
but  for  what  reason  I  have  forgotten,  if  I  ever  knew.  A  detail  of  twenty 
men  under  Lieut.  Hammond,  United  States  Army,  sent  forward  at  3  o'clock 
A.  M.,  had  gone  through  the  canyon  and  found  the  remains  of  Gov.  Armijo's 
fortifications  at  its  western  end.  They  also  found  a  spiked  piece  of  ordnance 
which  had  been  abandoned,  and  saw  the  tracks  where  others  had  been 
taken  off— afterward  captured,  unguarded,  in  the  forest,  by  some  of  the  St. 
Louis  artillerists.  With  but  a  small  force  Gov.  Armijo  could  have  checked 
our  easy  progress,  and  perhaps  stopped  us  altogether  ;  but  if  his  men  had 
not  run  away  twenty-four  hours  before  our  arrival,  we  could  have  turned 
his  position  by  going  over  the  mesa  from  Pecos,  and  on  to  Santa  Fe  by  way 
of  Galisteo. 

The  truth  is,  Gov.  Armijo,  if  in  earnest,  was  too  late  in  trying  to  get 
ready  for  us.  If  he  had  met  us  at  the  pass  at  Raton — a  narrow  valley  with 
a  railroad  in  it  now — and  kept  meeting  us  at  other  close  passages,  as  well  as 
annoying  us  and  picking  off  our  beef  cattle  and  stragglers — for  which  the 
advantages  were  all  on  the  side  of  men  knowing  the  country  well,  and  accus 
tomed,  as  the  Mexicans  were,  to  scant  rations — our  march,  if  we  could  have 
got  along  at  all,  would  have  been  a  succession  of  bloodier  battles  than  that 
of  El  Puerto  del  Padre.  The  population  of  the  territory  was  about  100,000, 
and  if  its  fighting  material  had  been  well  organized  and  under  good  leaders, 
the  Army  of  the  West  would  have  had  a  record  of  greater  hardships  than 
half  rations  and  no  salt  on  its  march  of  312  miles  from  Bent's  Fort  to  Santa 
Fe.  But  then,  I  suppose,  if  it  had  been  necessary,  we  should  have  used 
more  caution  and  have  had  more  men.  Our  conquest,  more  difficult,  would 
have  been  more  highly  valued. 

As  soon  as  the  different  commands  had  gotten  together  after  a  heavy 
drag  on  roads  softened  by  recent  rains,  we  moved  on  through  the  canyon 
and  over  the  hills  beyond.  By  three  o'clock  the  head  of  the  column  had 
reached  a  spot  overlooking  the  doomed  city;  but  its  tail,  like  that  of  a 
comet,  stretched  out  rather  indefinitely.  It  was  a  heroic  march  on  the  part 
of  the  skeleton  mules,  horses  and  oxen,  especially  those  attached  to  the 
11  flying  artillery,"  as  Maj.  Clarke's  command  was  gravely  styled  in  official 
papers  ;  but  the  big  guns  came  creeping  into  place  at  last,  and  the  Rangers 
and  dragoons  then  had  the  honor  of  marching  into  the  city  and  through  the 
principal  streets  in  all  the  pride  and  dust  of  deadly  war.  The  flag  was  run 
up  on  the  palace,  late  the  residence  of  Gov.  Armijo,  and  the  cannon  on  the 
hill  thundered  a  national  salute. 


238  NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

Santa  Fe,  the  ancient  city,  now  growing  more  beautiful  in  her  old  age 
than  she  ever  was  in  youth — was  captured  !  The  only  gunpowder  burned 
in  the  campaign  was  that  in  the  cannon  saluting  the  American  Eagle,  new 
lighted  on  her  towers.  Our  victorious  general  occupied  her  palace,  built  of 
raw  brick,  as  were  those  of  Nineveh,  and  was  the  ruler  of  the  province. 
Senor  Armijo,  the  native  governor,  had  gone  to  Old  Mexico,  whence  I  be 
lieve  he  never  returned.  Whether  he  or  the  central  government  of  Mexico, 
or  the  people  of  the  territory,  should  bear  the  blame,  I  know  not,  but  cer 
tain  it  is,  that  a  force  much  greater  than  the  Army  of  the  West  would  have 
beon  needed  to  take  the  province,  if  proper  resistance  had  been  made. 

It  was  a  night  to  be  remembered,  that  of  August  18,  1846.  Having  tra 
versed  the  principal  streets  and  marched  around  tht  plaza  to  salute  the 
newly  raised  flag— having  glanced  at  the  sinister  countenances  of  some  of 
the  Mexican  men,  and  looked  kindly  at  the  scared  faces  of  the  women,  who 
thought  the  cannon  were  bombarding  the  town— having,  as  a  novel  lesson 
in  pastoral  economy,  noticed  the  pig  tied  by  a  lariat  to  graze  in  one  of  the 
corrals,  and  having  in  a,  general  way  deported  ourselves  as  magnanimous 
warriors  and  observing  philosophers,  the  Eangers,  sated  with  glory,  but 
hungry,  marched  back  to  the  position  on  the  hill  only  to  find  that  our 
wagons  with  rations  and  camp  outfit  had  not  arrived  and  were  not  ex 
pected. 

The  prospect  for  supper  was  gloomy,  and  the  discussion  of  the  situation 
by  the  Rangers  was  getting  lively  with  short  words  of  a  Scriptural  sound, 
used  in  a  somewhat  profane  sense,  when  I  was  politely  informed  by  the 
adjutant  that  I  was  officer  of  the  guard  for  the  night,  with  Maj.  Philip  St. 
George  Cooke  as  officer  of  the  day ;  the  guard  to  consist  of  fifty  ravenous 
men  who  were  to  preserve  order  in  the  captured  city.  It  was  no  doubt  an 
honor,  in  a  limited  sense,  to  be  in  command  of  the  guard  in  a  foreign  capital 
seized  without  a  struggle  after  a  daring  march  of  nearly  a  thousand  miles ; 
possessed  without  the  shedding  of  a  drop  of  blood  or  burning  an  ounce  of 
powder  till  the  star-spangled  flag  was  hoisted  over  it ;  and  I  have  honestly 
tried  to  feel  proud  of  the  distinction  and  to  enjoy  the  recollection  of  it  as  a 
creditable  incident  in  a  life  not  burdened  with  military  events  of  much  con 
sequence.  But,  alas,  for  fame  and  immortality  !  When  I  was  in  Santa  Fe 
for  a  week  in  November,  1874,  the  folks  did  not  seem  to  care  a  bawbee  about 
the  "  officer  of  the  guard  "  in  1846,  and  in  fact  appeared  hardly  to  know  that 
the  city  had  ever  been  captured  at  all ;  but  seemed  rather  to  have  a  notion 
that  it  had  been  given  up  gratuitously.  Alas,  I  say  again.  They  are  now 
celebrating  the  333d  anniversary  of  the  occupation  of  the  town  by  white 
men,  but  among  the  thousands  gathered  there  few  will  know  that  the  Army 
of  the  West  ever  existed,  or  that  Uncle  Sam  owes  to  a  few  companies  of  Mis- 
sourians  the  possession  of  the  ancient  city. 

In  taking  Santa  Fe  we  took  New  Mexico.  I  do  not  remember  what  its 
metes  and  bounds  were  then,  including,  as  they  did,  Utah  and  Arizona,  but 
let  us  look  at  it  now.  It  lies  south  of  Colorado,  extending  from  the  37th 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEAKS.  239 

down  to  the  32d  parallel  of  latitude,  and  is  in  breadth  from  the  103d  to  the 
109th  meridian,  thus  covering  five  degrees  of  latitude  and  six  of  longitude, 
and  embracing  an  area  of  121,000  square  miles  or  more  than  77,000,000  acres  ; 
three  times  as  large  as  Ohio,  sixteen  times  as  large  as  Rhode  Island,  nearly 
twice  as  large  as  all  New  England,  and  larger  than  New  York  and  Penn 
sylvania  combined.  It  has  been  estimated  that  at  least  70,000,000  acres 
were  unclaimed  by  individuals  or  towns  when  we  took  possession — a  domain 
of  public  lands  twice  the  size  of  Illinois  given  to  the  United  States  by  the 
Army  of  the  West — and  yet,  oh  reader !  even  you,  with  all  your  assorted 
kit  of  knowledge,  possibly  never  before  heard  of  our  conquesting  army  ! 

The  elevated  table-land  or  plateau  of  the  continent  on  which  the  swells 
and  peaks  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  are  embossed  stretches  from  British 
America  into  Old  Mexico  and  embraces  the  territory  of  New  Mexico ;  but 
the  Rocky  Mountain  chain  is  broken  into  separate  and  detached  links,  leav 
ing  many  wide  valleys  and  broad  plains  in  the  prospective  state.  The  aver 
age  altitude  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  territory  is  about  4,500  feet,  and 
in.  the  northern  perhaps  7,000.  The  streams  of  the  western  flank  take  their 
course  to  the  Pacific,  and  those  of  the  middle  and  eastern  sections  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  principal  rivers  are  the  Rio  Grande,  Pecos  and  Cana 
dian,  whose  waters  seek  the  gulf,  and  the  San  Juan  and  Gila,  which  get  to 
the  Pacific  by  the  Colorado  of  the  West.  The  largest  of  the  rivers,  the  Rio 
Grande,  having  its  sources  in  Colorado,  runs  from  north  to  south  the  whole 
length  of  the  territory,  and,  while  not  navigable,  is  well  called  "the  Nile  of 
America,"  from  its  annual  swelling,  as  well  as  from  the  constant  fertility 
it  maintains  in  irrigated  lands.  The  valleys  of  the  rivers  mentioned  and  of 
many  lesser  streams  have  large  areas  of  fertile  soil,  some  of  which  has 
been  under  cultivation  for  more  than  three  centuries,  and  is  said  to  get  bet 
ter  by  use,  owing  to  the  sediment  in  the  irrigating  waters.  Wherever  irri 
gation  is  available  the  toil  of  the  cultivator  is  amply  rewarded.  On  the 
uplands  and  mesas,  and  even  high  on  the  mountain  slopes,  the  grass  is  of 
rare  excellence  and  generally  abundant. 

The  climate  of  New  Mexico  is  unsurpassed  for  salubrity.  In  the  southern 
portion  snow  is  almost  unknown,  and  in  the  northern,  except  on  the  moun 
tains,  it  seldom  lasts  more  than  a  few  days  at  a  time.  The  winters  are  mild 
and  the  summer  temperature  never  oppressive.  In  regard  to  healthfulness 
New  Mexico  may  be  fairly  considered  one  of  the  favored  regions  of  the  con 
tinent.  Its  death-rate  from  tubercular  diseases  is  lower  than  that  of  any 
other  part  of  America.  Physicians  say  that  no  case  of  bronchial  affection 
was  ever  brought  to  the  territory  that  was  not  greatly  improved  or  alto 
gether  cured;  and  the  same  is  true  of  asthma.  "The  country,"  said  Dr. 
Kennan,  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.,  "  is  distant  from  either  ocean  ;  it  is  entirely  free 
from  all  causes  of  disease.  The  atmosphere  is  almost  as  dry  as  that  of  Egypt. 
The  whole  territory  has  always  been  astonishingly  free  from  epidemic  dis 
eases.  There  are  not  ten  days  in  the  whole  year  in  which  an  invalid  cannot 
take  exercise  in  the  open  air." 


240  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

Wheat  and  other  cereals,  field  and  garden  vegetables,  and  all  fruits 
suited  to  the  latitude  are  produced  with  little  labor  and  of  excellent  quality. 
As  to  the  grape,  Humboldt  regarded  the  region  on  the  Rio  Grande  at  El 
Paso  .as  the  Andalusia  of  the  Western  hemisphere.  For  200  miles  north  of 
that  point,  the  soil,  climate  and  atmospheric  conditions  in  the  valley  of  the 
river  are  similarly  favorable  to  the  fruit  of  the  vine. 

Mining,  with  its  abundant  hopes,  fallacious  certainties,  and  capricious 
results,  spreads  over  New  Mexico  a  halo  more  brilliant  in  its  hues  than  the 
summer  sunset.  In  addition  to  mountains  of  iron  ore,  like  that  of  the  Han 
over  mine  and  others  near  it,  she 

Has  in  the  depths  of  earth  the  fossil  store 
That  moves  the  engine,  and  the  lamp  is  lighting  ; 

And  precious  mines,  where  Ophir's  wealth,  or  more, 
Is  blessing  men— or  blighting. 

Poor  old  Missourians !  We  robbed  Mexico  of  that  grand  province  for  the 
benefit  of  Uncle  Sam,  and  yet  he  denies  us  pensions 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  241 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

GALISTEO — CUSTOMS  OP  CONQUERED  PEOPLE — THE  GENERAL'S  BALL  IN  THE 
PALACE  —  DETACHED  SERVICE  —  OLD  PECOS  RUINS  —  GENERAL  KEARNEY 
LEAVES  FOR  CALIFORNIA— DONIPHAN  IN  COMMAND  OF  THE  PROVINCE- 
COL.  PRICE  IN  SANTA  FE— LT.  COL.  MITCHELL  GOES  SOUTH— DONIPHAN 
FOR  CHIHUAHUA  —  FIGHT  AT  BRAZITO  —  ERRANT  MISSOURI ANS  —  ONE  TO 
FIVE  AT  SACRAMENTO — SENATOR  BENTON'S  RECEPTION  SPEECH — TRAGEDY 
IN  NEW  MEXICO — MURDER  OF  GOV.  BENT,  JAS.  W.  LEAL  AND  OTHERS — ' 
PRICE'S  WINTER  CAMPAIGN— OUTBREAK  AT  MORO. 

To  give  an  idea  of  what  the  people  of  New  Mexico  were  like  when  fresh 
conquered,  and  as  seen  at  Galisteo,  where  I  was  sent  the  morning  after  the 
capture  of  Santa  Fe  (with  all  the  horses  and  half  of  the  Rangers,  to  graze 
the  animals),  I  take  a  few  lines  from  my  old  journal : 

"  Visited  Galisteo,  which  contains  about  200  inhabitants.  The  houses 
are  built  of  adobes,  or  sun-dried  bricks,  white-washed  inside,  and  with  flat 
roofs,  as  in  Bible  times,  when  people  could  go  on  'the  house  tops.'  The 
town  is  on  a  knoll  in  the  valley,  commanding  an  extensive  view.  Near  it 
there  is  a  range  of 'volcanic  (?)  rock,  thrown  up  by  some  great  convulsion. 
Northeastward  the  ground  is  high,  broken,  and  exhibiting  many  upheaved 
and  dislocated  strata.  The  waters  from  the  mountains  converge  into  streams 
and  fertilize  a  depression  in  the  valley,  so  that  com  (called  mais,  pronounced 
myse)  can  be  raised  sufficient  for  the  scanty  dishes  of  atole  (mush)  and  tor 
tillas  (thin  cakes)  used  by  the  people.  Some  wheat  also  is  raised ;  tharshed 
by  hand,  winnowed  by  the  breath,  or  by  throwing  into  the  air,  ground 
between  two  stones  by  the  women,  and  baked  into  very  tolerable  bread — 
for  hungry  men.  (Two  women  shall  be  grinding  in  a  mill,  the  Bible  says.) 
The  cooking  utensils  are  pots  and  bowls  of  earthenware,  made  by  the  Pueb 
lo  Indians,  and  no  doubt  the  manufacture  of  these  utensils  by  the  Pueblo 
(or  village)  Indians  is  a  remnant  of  the  former  civilization  of  the  Ancients 
of  America.  The  cooking  is  done  by  boiling  or  stewing  in  these  earthen 
vessels,  or  roasting  on  the  coals.  Tortillas  are  baked  on  a  flat  plate  of  iron, 
or  griddle.  The  bread  made  of  the  ground  wheat  is  baked  in  mud  or  clay 
ovens  similar  in  structure  to  many  in  the  States.  Milk  from  goats  and  cows 


242  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

is  much  used.  Cattle  are  not  numerous  at  the  village,  but  there  are  quite  a 
number  of  goats  and  sheep.  A  kind  of  incipient  cheese,  or  curds  compressed 
by  hand,  is  made  in  profusion,  and  is  no  doubt  wholesome.  The  inhabitants 
at  this  season  rarely  sleep  in  their  houses,  but  spread  rheir  mats  or  blankets 
before  their  doors  and  sleep  in  the  open  air.  In  day  time  their  beds  are 
folded  up  and  used  for  seats  inside  the  rooms.  (People  could  take  up  their 
beds  and  walk  in  Bible  days.)  The  kitchens  have  neat  chimneys  in  the  cor 
ners.  The  roofs  are  made  with  pine  logs,  corn  husks  on  them,  and  earth 
over  all,  sufficient  to  turn  all  the  rains  of  this  climate.  The  best  rooms  have 
part  of  the  floor  usually  covered  with  a  woolen  carpet,  made  in  the  village; 
several  looms  are  seen  under  sheds  in  different  parts  of  the  town ;  also  spin 
ning  wheels  of  rude  construction.  The  village  has  a  church,  about  30  feet 
long  by  20  wide,  neatly  white-washed  inside;  the  walls  are  partly  built 
of  stone,  and  topped  out  with  adobes.  The  door  of  the  church  is  oppo 
site  the  pulpit,  at  one  end,  and  a  gallery  over  ik  The  windows  of  the  houses 
are  square  or  round  openings,  with  wooden  bars  crossed,  and  shutters  to 
close  when  necessary." 

Again:  "Visited  Galisteo  this  afternoon  and  had  some  further  insight 
into  the  character  and  habits  of  the  villagers.  The  people  are  rather  filthy 
in  their  cooking  and  persons,  and  quite  cooly  pick  off  vermin  in  the  presence 
of  visitors ;  this  is  true  of  the  lower  orders,  the  great  mass  of  the  people. 
Their  clothing  is  principally  cotton,  from  the  States.  The  men  wear  a  sort 
of  loose  leather  breeches,  open  at  the  outer  seam  (with  buttons),  over  their 
inside  muslin  trousers  underneath.  The  arrival  of  Senor  Pino,  the  owner 
of  the  village,  reported,  and  a  fandango  spoken  of  for  the  evening." 

In  grazing  camps  with  the  horses,  and  indulging  in  two  or  three  visits  to 
the  capital — fortunate  enough  to  be  there  on  the  night  of  the  General's 
grand  soiree  and  ball  in  the  palace — time  wore  on  till  12th  of  September, 
when  I  wasordered  on  "  detached  service."  My  subalterns,  under  Bob  Far 
ley  as  chief,  were  teamsters.  The  troops  were  oxen.  Instead  of  murderous 
cannons  like  Maj.  Clarke's  flying  artillery,  we  had  quartermaster's  empty 
wagons.  We  were  on  a  mission  to  Bent's  Fort,  312  miles  away,  to  bring  in 
commissary  stores.  It  was  one  of  those  trips  in  which  an  imaginative  trav 
eler  might  take  delight,  as  the  actual  happenings  were  not  important 
enough  to  interfere  with  those  invented  to  adorn  his  tale.  True,  the  little 
Mexican  boys  at  San  Miguel  were  playing  soldiers  in  the  plaza,  the  six-year 
old  captain  dressed  in  a  pair  of  moccasins  and  a  string  of  beads,  and  his 
troop  in  similar  costume,  except  the  moccasins  and  beads.  True,  I  killed  a 
monstrous  black  bear  at?  the  Canadian,  by  running  my  sabre  down  his  throat, 
after  having  wounded  him  with  one  of  the  flint-lock  pistols  issued  to  us  at 
Fort  Leavenworth.  True,  after  lying  sleepless  all  night  with  tic  doloreaux, 
indulging  in  a  wakey  dream  of  the  splendid  saddle  cover  the  skin  would 
make,  I  arose  at  day  break  to  find  it  missing  from  where  Fernando,  my 
trusty  mozo,  had  pegged  it  out  on  the  ground  to  dry.  True,  my  little  bay 
horse,  Pompey,  was  stolen  by  Indians  at  the  Purgatory,  and  never  paid  for 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  243 

by  Uncle  Sam.  True,  sixteeayears  after,  in  St.  Louis,  Gen.  Frank  P.  Blair 
hailed  me  as  the  man  who  had  killed  a  big  grizzly  bear  with  a  sabre,  and  I 
had  no  chance  to  correct  him.  True,  many  other  things  happened  in  our 
dusty  and  wearisome  pilgrimage,  but  hardly  worth  telling  in  a  busy  time, 
except  that  I  had  an  opportunity  of  visiting  the  Pecos  ruins,  which  were 
probably  the  first  edifices  I  had  ever  seen  more  than  two  hundred  years  old. 
As  old  Pecos  may  soon  disappear,  now  that  the  railroad  is  filling  the  terri 
tory  with  new  life  and  industry,  it  is  well  to  note  the  ruins  as  interesting 
relics  of  a  past  age.  For  all  we  know,  some  pushing  yaiikee  may  haul  off 
the  old  adobes  to  build  a  woolen  mill,  or  a  gold  stamper,  on  the  Pecos  river, 
where  so  much  power  is  running  to  waste.  My  old  journal  of  Sept.  14,  says : 

"  Moved  to  Pecos  and  camped  near  the  ruins.  The  Catholic  church  is 
still  in  a  tolerable  state  of  preservation.  In  some  places  the  roof  has  fallen, 
but  the  walls  are  sound ;  they  are  very  thick  and  in  this  dry  climate  may 
last  many  years  yet.  The  joists  and  other  wood  work  are  elaborately  carved 
in  a  rude  style.  The  hall  of  the  church  is  100  feet  in  depth  to  the  chance^ 
which  is  15  feet.  The  hall  is  about  30  feet  wide  and  40  feet  high.  There  is 
a  gallery  on  the  side  near  th,e  chancel  and  over  the  principal  door.  Adjoin 
ing  the  church  are  numerous  rooms,  apparently  connected  with  it  in  former 
times,  and  some  of  them  still  in  a  good  state  of  preservation.  The  entire 
ruins  of  old  Pecos  cover  several  acres,  'round  which  are  traces  of  an  old  stone 
wall.  About  250  yards  from  the  church  are  numerous  Aztec  buildings, 
some  of  them  three  stories  high  ;  one  of  the  buildings  has  a  number  of  small 
rooms  which  look  as  if  they  may  have  been  dungeons.  These  last  are  relics 
of  the  Indians,  who  have  only  left  the  spot  a  few  years,  having  lingered 
here,  keeping  a  fire  burning  in  a  cave.  It  was,  they  said,  the  fire  of  Monte- 
zuma,  which,  on  leaving,  he  had  commanded  them  to  keep  burning  till  his 
return." 

I  also  copy  from  Emory's  journal : 

"  Pecos,  once  a  fortified  town,  is  built  on  a  promontory  or  rock,  somewhat 
in  the  shape  of  a  foot.  Here  burned,  until  within  seven  years,  the  eternal 
fire  of  Montezuma,  and  the  remains  of  the  architecture  exhibit  in  a  promi 
nent  manner,  the  engraftment  of  the  Catholic  church  upon  the  ancient  re 
ligion  of  the  country.  At  one  end  of  the  short  spur  forming  the  terminus  of 
the  promontory,  are  the  remains  of  the  estufa  [or  vault  where  the  sacred  fire 
was  kept  burning],  with  all  its  parts  distinct ;  at  the  other  are  the  remains 
of  the  Catholic  church,  both  showing  the  distinctive  marks  and  emblems  of 
the  two  religions.  The  fires  of  the  estufa  sent  their  incense  through  the 
same  altar  from  which  was  preached  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  Two  religions, 
so  utterly  different  in  theory,  were  here,  as  in  all  Mexico,  blended  in  har 
monious  practice  until  about  a  century  since,  when  the  town  was  sacked  by 
a  band  of  Indians. 

"  Amidst  the  havoc  and  plunder  of  the  city,  the  faithful  Indian  managed 
to  keep  his  fire  burning  in  the  estufa ;  and  it  was  continued  till  a  few  years 
since,  when  the  tribe  became  almost  extinct.  Their  devotions  rapidly  dimin- 


244  NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

ished  their  number  until  they  became  so  few  as  to  be  unable  to  keep  their 
immense  estufa  (forty  feet  in  diameter)  replenished,  when  they  abandoned 
the  place  and  joined  a  tribe  of  the  original  race  over  the  mountains  about 
sixty  miles  west.  There  it  is  said,  to  this  day  they  keep  up  their  fire,  which 
has  never  yet  been  extinguished.  The  labor,  watchfulness  and  exposure  to 
heat  consequent  on  this  practice  of  their  faith,  is  fast  reducing  this  remnant 
of  the  Montezuma  race,  and  a  few  years  will,  in  all  probability,  see  the  last 
of  this  interesting  people.  The  remains  of  the  ancient  [Spanish]  church, 
with  its  crosses,  its  cells,  its  dark  mysterious  corners  and  niches,  differ  but 
little  from  those  of  the  present  day  in  New  Mexico.  The  architecture  of  the 
of  the  Indian  portion  of  this  ruin  presents  peculiarities  worthy  of  notice. 

"Both  are  constructed  of  the  same  materials:  the  walls  of  sun-dried 
brick,  the  rafters  of  well  hewn  timber,  which  could  never  have  been  hewn 
by  the  miserable  little  axes  now  used  by  the  Mexicans,  which  resemble  in 
shape  and  size  the  wedges  used  by  our  farmers  for  spliting  rails.  The  cor 
nices  and  drops  of  the  architrave  in  the  modern  church  are  elaborately 
carved  with  a  knife." 

When  I  looked  from  the  coach  window  at  the  ruins  in  1874,  they  did  not 
seem  changed  in  the  twenty-eight  years  which  had  intervened ;  but  I  must 
confess,  that  when  I  saw  them  first,  I  was  less  impressed  by  them  as  me 
mentoes  of  two  religions,  of  which  one  was  almost  extinct,  than  as  exhibit 
ing  the  wonderfully  lasting  character  of  adobes,  or  sun-dried  bricks,  which 
had  here  been  in  part  of  the  ruins  exposed  to  the  elements  more  than  a  cen- 
ury ;  and  in  the  Aztec  portion,  had  probably  breasted  the  storms  before  the 
advent  of  Coronado  in  1540.  In  truth,  no  one  knows  how  many  centuries 
the  ruins  of  the  old  Aztec  edifice  have  existed.  Old  Pecos  is  very  near  the 
line  of  the  Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  Railroad,  and  is  nearer  to  St.  Louis 
and  Chicago  than  any  other  pre-historic  city. 

After  an  absence  of  forty  days,  we  were  back  in  Santa  Fe,  and  had  the 
welcome  due  to  a  fine  supply  of  subsistence  stores.  Gen.  Kearney,  with  all 
the  U.  S.  dragoons,  had  marched  for  California.  An  account  of  his  march 
and  battles  is  given  in  the  journal  of  Gen.  W.  H.Emory  (then  Lieutenant  of 
Topographical  Engineers).  The  genial  Capt.  Ben.  Moore,  and  the  intelli 
gent,  observing  and  cultivated  Capt.  Johnson.  x>erished  in  a  battle  solely 
due  to  the  absurd  orders  from  Washington. 

Col.  Doniphan  was  in  command  of  the  Province  of  New  Mexico,  but  hav 
ing  inarched  to  the  country  of  the  Navajos  to  treat  with  those  Indians,  Col. 
Sterling  Price,  of  the  2nd  Regiment  of  Missouri  Volunteers,  recently  arrived, 
was  in  command  at  Santa  Fe.  Col.  Doniphan's  Regiment  remained  in  "Rio 
Abajo,"  as  the  lower  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  was  called. 

In  November,  Col.  Price  ordered  Lieut. -Col.  D.  D.  Mitchell,  of  St.  Louis, 
to  take  a  special  detail  of  100  picked  men,  and  open  communication  with 
Chihuahua.  Capt.  Hudson,  Lieut.  LaBeaume,  and  most  of  the  Rangers 
went  with  Col.  Mitchell.  Col.  Doniphan,  with  his  regiment,  marched  south 
about  the  time  Col.  Mitchell  did ;  and  450  men  of  these  commands,  on  Christ- 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  246 

mas  Day,  fought  the  battle  of  Brazito,  a  few  miles  north  of  El  Paso,  routing 
more  than  double  their  number  of  Mexicans,  and  capturing  one  cannon.  Col. 
Weigh tman's  company  of  Artillery  from  St.  Louis,  having  joined  Col.  Doni- 
phan  (Capt.  Fischer's  St.  Louis  Artillery  remaining  in  Santa  Fe),  the  rather 
motley  army  moved  on  towards  Chihuahua,  under  orders  to  join  Gen.  Wool 
at  that  place ; — the  wise  men  at  Washington  having  in  the  meantime  ordered 
Geu.  Wool  to  join  Gen.  Taylor,  but  failed  in  measures  to  advise  Col.  Doni- 
phan  of  the  change ! 

These  errant  Missourians  went  marching  on,  not  unconscious  of  peril, 
but  defying  it.  A  Mexican  army  very  foolishly  tried  to  stop  them  at  a  place 
called  Sacramento,  15  miles  from  Chihuahua;  but  Doniphan  and  his  men — 
about  900  in  all— did  not  want  to  stop.  There  were  about  4,500  Mexicans,— 
infantry,  cavalry  and  artillery, — in  a  very  strong  position.  The  Missourians 
fought  and  conquered,  with  a  loss  of  two  killed :  Samuel  C.  Owen,  of  Jack 
son  county,  and  Lieut.  Kirkpatrick,  of  Lafayette.  Ten  pieces  of  artillery 
were  captured.  The  Mexican  loss  was  heavy,  300  killed  and  many  wounded ; 
but  this  was  partly  the  fault  of  their  commanders,  who,  as  Doniphan's  men 
said,  knew  nothing  of  arithmetic,  but  tried  to  stand  against  the  Missouri 
ans  with  five  men  to  one.  Of  course,  the  boys  would  jocularly  argue,  there 
were  five  chances  for  a  Mexican  to  be  killed  against  one  for  a  Missourian. 
Besides,  Maj.  M.  Lewis  Clarke  and  Capt.  Richard  H.  Weightman,  with  their 
artillery,  behaved  in  violation  of  all  rules— wheeled  up  their  howitzers  to 
within  sixty  yards  of  the  Mexican  redoubts,  and  fired  right  into  the  poor 
fellows ;  while  Capt.  John  W.  Reid  went  charging  about  with  his  squad  of 
cavalry,  to  the  imminent  peril  of  every  Mexican  in  his  way ;  and  Colonel 
Mitchell,  Capt.  Hudson,  Clay  Taylor  and  everybody  else  were  also  taking 
advantage  of  the  great  numbers  of  the  enemy  to  put  all  they  could  hors  du 
combat,  as  the  French  politely  term  it.  When  there  was  no  more  water  to 
swab  Clay  Taylor's  cannon,  a  supply  of  moisture  was  provided ;  but  for  the 
means  used  in  this  emergency  I  must  refer  to  Maj.  Clarke's  official  report  in 
the  archives  at  Washington. 

Col.  Doniphan  took  possession  of  Chihuahua,  and  after  a  short  rest— his 
force,  as  described  in  his  official  report,  "  literally  without  horses,  clothes 
or  money;  nothing  but  arms  and  a  disposition  to  use  them" — again  went 
marching  on,  and  reached  the  camp  of  Gen.  Taylor.  At  the  grand  reception 
given  at  St.  Louis  in  July,  1847,  to  Col.  Doniphan  and  his  returned  warriors, 
Senator  Bentoii  delivered  a  glowing  address,  from  which  I  quote  a  few  sen 
tences  of  historical  interest : 

"  Chihuahua  gained,  it  became,  like  Santa  Fe,  not  the  terminating  point 
of  a  long  expedition,  but  the  beginning  point  of  a  new  one.  Gen.  Taylor 
was  somewhere — no  one  knew  exactly  where— but  some  seven  or  eight  hun 
dred  miles  toward  the  other  side  of  Mexico.  You  had  heard  that  he  had 
been  defeated — that  Buena  Vista  had  not  been  a  good  prospect  to  him.  Like 
good  Americans,  you  did  not  believe  a  word  of  it ;  but  like  good  soldiers  you 
thought  it  best  to  go  and  see.  A  volunteer  party  of  fourteen,  headed  by 


246  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

Collins,  of  Boonville,  undertook  to  penetrate  to  Saltillo,  and  to  bring  yon 
information  of  his  condition.  Amidst  innumerable  dangers  they  accomplish 
their  purpose  and  re  turn.  You  march.  A  vanguard  of  100  men,  under  Lieut. 
Col.  Mitchell,  led  the  way.  Then  came  the  main  body  (if  the  name  is  not  a 
burlesque  on  such  a  handfull)  commanded  by  Col.  Doniphan  himself.  The 
whole  table  land  of  Mexico,  in  all  its  breadth  from  east  to  west,  was  to  be 
traversed.  A  numerous  and  hostile  population  in  towns — treacherous  Co- 
manches  in  the  mountains — were  to  be  passed.  Everything  was  to  be  self- 
provided — provisions,  transportation,  fresh  horses  for  remounts,  and  even 
the  means  of  victory — and  all  without  a  military  chest,  or  even  an  empty 
box  in  which  government  gold  had  ever  reposed.  All  was  accomplished. 
Mexican  towns  were  passed  in  order  and  quiet — plundering  Comanches  were 
punished — means  were  obtained  from  traders  to  liquidate  indispensable  con 
tributions — and  the  wants  that  could  not  be  supplied  were  endured  like 
soldiers  of  veteran  service.  * 

You  arrived  in  Gen.  Taylor's  camp,  ragged  and  rough,  as  we  can  well  con 
ceive,  and  ready,  as  I  can  quickly  show.  You  reported  for  duty ! — you  asked 
for  service ! — such  as  a  march  on  San  Luis  de  Potosi,  Zacatecas,  or  the  "  halls 
of  the  Montezumas,"  or  anything  in  that  way  that  the  General  should  have 
a  mind  to.  If  he  was  going  on  any  excursion  of  that  kind,  all  right.  The 
"Ten  Thousand"  counted  the  voyage  on  the  Black  Sea,  as  well  as  the 
march  from  Babylon,  and  twenty  centuries  admit  the  validity  of  the  count. 
The  present  age,  and  futurity,  will  include  the  "  going  out  and  coming  in  " 
of  the  Missouri  volunteers,  the  water  voyage  as  well  as  the  land  march  ;  and 
then  the  expedition  of  the  One  Thousand  will  exceed  that  of  the  Ten  by 
some  two  thousand  miles. 

"The  last  nine  hundred  miles  of  your  land  march  from  Chihuahua  to 
Matamoras,  you  made  in  forty-five  days,  bringing  seventeen  pieces  of  artil 
lery,  eleven  of  which  were  taken  from  the  enemy  at  Brazito  and  Sacra 
mento.  *  *  *  You  did  the  right  thing  at  the  right  time,  and  what  the 
government  intended  you  to  do,  and  without  knowing  its  intentions." 

These  remarks  of  Colonel  Ben  ton  do  no  more  than  justice  to  the  courage, 
endurance  and  fortitude  of  Doniphan  and  his  men,  on  their  long  and  peril 
ous  march.  They  started  from  the  heart  of  New  Mexico  for  an  unknown 
destination,  and  got  there.  Missourians  should  ever  hold  in  honor  the 
memory  of  the  men  in  that  expedition.  But  apart  from  its  glory,  there  was 
no  great  result,  except  to  show  how  large  a  scope  of  country  could  be  con 
quered  without  strength  enough  following  to  hold  it. 

We  had  been  quiet  in  New  Mexico,  with  some  rumors  of  conspiracies, 
but  nothing  thought  to  be  serious.  Civil  courts  on  the  American  plan  had 
been  established.  Charles  Bent  had  been  appointed  Governor,  a  man  of 
excellent  qualities,  and  popular  with  all  classes.  Col.  Price  was  rather  care 
less,  I  thought,  as  to  the  drilling  and  exercises  of  the  few  soldiers  in  Santa 
Fe  *.  but  was  vigilant  as  to  the  general  affairs  of  the  province.  Volunteers, 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEABS.  247 

who  had  been  lawyers  at  home,  were  trying  to  pick  up  fees  in  the  practice 
of  their  profession. 

Suddenly,  our  life  that  had  seemed  a  mere  comedy,  had  a  terrible  element 
of  tragedy  thrust  in.  On  the  morning  of  the  19th  of  January,  1847,  a  large 
number  of  Pueblo  Indians— thought  to  be  entirely  peaceable — assembled  in 
one  of  the  villages  of  the  valley  of  Taos,  and  demanded  of  Stephen  Lee  (for 
merly  of -St.  Louis),  who  was  sheriff  of  the  county,  the  release  of  three 
Indians,  notorious  thieves,  who  were  confined  in  the  calaboose  for  stealing. 
Seeing  no  means  of  resistance,  Lee  was  about  to  comply  with  this  demand, 
and  was  in  the  act  of  taking  off  the  irons  from  the  prisoners,  when  Conrado 
Vigil,  a  Mexican,  and  the  Prefecto,  came  in  and  objected,  denouncing  the 
prisoners  as  thieves  and  scoundrels.  The  Indians  at  once  killed  Vigil,  and 
cut  his  body  to  pieces,  severing  the  limbs  from  it;  and  then  released  the 
prisoners.  Meantime  Lee  had  gone  to  his  house. 

Gov.  Bent  had  gone  to  Taos  on  a  visit,  and  was  at  his  home  in  the  vil* 
lage.  The  Indians  went  to  the  house  of  the  governor,  crowded  in  till  they 
filled  it ;  told  him  that  they  did  not  intend  to  leave  an  American  alive  in 
New  Mexico,  and  would  kill  him  first.  The  Governor  appealed  to  their 
honor  and  manhood,  but  they  treated  his  appeal  with  derision,  and  some 
hegan  to  shoot  him  with  arrows,  taking  fiendish  care  that  the  arrows  should 
torture,  not  kill  him.  They  shot  him  in  the  face  and  breast,  and  even 
tried  to  hit  his  eyes.  Leaving  him  some  time  in  this  condition,  they  came 
back  and  shot  him  in  the  heart  with  guns,  killing  him.  They  took  his 
scalp,  stretched  it  on  a  board,  and  carried  it  in  triumph  through  the  streets. 
They  had  in  the  meantime  killed  Stephen  Lee.  Gen.  Elliott  Lee,  of  St. 
Louis,  on  a  visit  to  his  brother  Stephen,  fled  to  the  house  of  the  Priest,  who 
concealed  him  under  some  wheat,  so  that  the  Indians  did  not  find  him  for 
some  time.  When  they  discovered  him,  they  took  him  out  to  kill  him,  but 
the  priest  interceded  for  him  so  strongly  that  they  abandoned  their  purpose. 
Gen  Lee  remained  at  the  Priest's  house  for  some  time,  and  every  few  days 
the  Indians  would  take  him  out  to  kill  him,  but  would  desist  on  the  inter 
ference  of  the  Priest.  He  was  finally  saved  from  danger  by  the  arrival  of 
the  troops. 

James  White  Leal,  a  private  in  the  Laclede  Bangers,  who  was  on  fur 
lough,  and  had  been  appointed  Prosecuting  Attorney  for  the  Northern  dis 
trict,  suffered  a  horrible  death.  The  Indians,  soon  after  killing  the 
Governor,  seized  Leal,  stripped  off  all  his  clothes  and  made  him  walk 
through  the  streets,  they  singing,  and  amusing  themselves  by  shooting 
arrows  a  little  way  into  his  body  to  torture  him.  Then  taking  him  to  the 
house,  they  shot  arrows  into  his  face,  taking  aim  at  his  eyes,  nose  and 
mouth — and  then  scalped  him  while  yet  alive.  They  left  him  in  this 
miserable  condition  for  some  time,  then  returned  and  shot  him  with  arrows 
till  he  died. 

The  Indians  went  to  the  house  of  Judge  Beaubien,  it  is  thought,  in  search 
of  Robert  Carey,  another  private  in  the  Rangers,  who  was  on  furlough,  and 


J448  NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

had  been  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Court.  A  son  of  Judge  Beaubien,  an  inter 
esting  youth  of  about  twenty  years,  who  had  been  educated  in  the  States 
and  had  just  returned,  was  found  in  the  house  and  murdered.  It  was 
thought  the  Indians  supposed  him  to  be  Carey,  who,  in  company  with 
two  other  gentlemen,  had  started  for  Santa  Fe  the  day  before,  all  being 
quiet  then,  and  no  fear  of  an  outbreak.  Charles  Town  and  several  other 
Americans  escaped  from  Taos  after  the  tragedies  began. 

Col.  Price,  on  hearing  of  these  terrible  events,  at  once  took  energetic  steps 
to  punish  the  offenders  ;  but  before  the  scattered  commands  (in  camps  where 
food  could  be  had  for  the  animals)  could  be  concentrated  in  Santa  Fe,  the 
entire  northern  end  of  the  province  seemed  to  be  in  insurrection.  Although 
it  was  midwinter,  the  troops  were  soon  on  the  way,  meeting  and  whipping 
the  insurgents  at  La  Canada,  and  also  at  El  Embudo,  and  finally  storming 
the  Aztec  buildings  in  the  principal  village.  It  was  a  campaign  of  fearful 
hardship  and  exposure,  with  scant  provisions,  without  tents,  bivouacking 
in  the  snow  on  bleak  hill  sides,  and  dragging  cannons  over  bridle  paths  on 
the  mountains  where  wheels  had  never  gone.  The  vengeance  taken  was 
exemplary,  and  the  insurgents  sued  for  peace.  Subsequently  twelve  or  fif 
teen  of  the  murderers  were  tried  in  the  courts,  and  promptly  executed. 
Many  of  the  insurgents  were  killed  in  the  battle  of  Taos,  and  some  of  the 
troops.  We  mourned  the  loss  of  Capt.  Burgwin,  a  gentleman  of  fine  talents 
and  elevated  character. 

About  the  time  of  the  murders  in  Taos,  some  travellers  on  the  road  to  the 
states,  were  murdered  at  the  Moro  river.  The  murderers  fortified  them 
selves  in  the  old  town  of  Moro,  some  miles  west  of  the  road.  Capt.  Henley, 
of  Price's  Begiment,  attacked  them  with  men  from  the  grazing  camps,  but 
was  himself  killed  in  the  action.  Capt.  Moran,  of  the  same  regiment,  after 
wards  drove  them  out  of  the  town,  and  destroyed  it.  The  town  was  after 
wards  rebuilt,  but  there  has  been  no  fighting  there  since. 

But  one  opinion  was  held  of  the  conduct  of  Col.  Price  after  the  troubles 
broke  out.  It  was  able,  energetic  and  successful ;  and  his  campaign  to  Taos 
was  in  every  respect  satisfactory  to  military  and  civilians. 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  249 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

AMUSEMENTS  —  MONTE  —  FANDANGOES  —  THEATRE  —  PIZARRO     IN     PERU  —  AT 

DEATH'S  DOOR — SIXTY  GRAINS  OF  CALOMEL — JOHN  LEDYARD'S  TRIBUTE 
TO  WOMEN — MILITARY  HOSPITAL  AT  THE  WARM  SPRINGS — HUNTING  IN 
DIANS  AND  FINDING  THEM  — CANYON  OF  THE  CANADIAN  — A  FOOLISH 
THING  DONE — THE  MUSIC  OF  BULLETS — WE  HAD  TO  VAMOS — TWO  MEN 
WOUNDED — ONE  KILLED  IN  THE  FINAL  CHARGE — CAPT.  DENT  WITH  RE 
INFORCEMENTS —  STARTING  HOME  —  CROW  INDIANS  —  NIGHT  MARCHES  — 
AGAIN  IN  ST.  LOUIS  —  CRIMINAL  COURT  —  A  MOTHER-IN-LAW  STRUCK  — 
HUDSON'S  ORATORY  SPOILED  —  A  GUILTY  DEFENDANT  ACQUITTED  —  THE 
LAW  GIVEN  UP— DAVID  R.  ATCHISON,  PRESIDENT—THE  FIRST  GOVERNOR 
OF  MINNESOTA. 

Look  on  the  map  at  New  Mexico,  Colorado,  Utah  and  Arizona  ;  and  re 
flect  on  the  industries,  homes,  talent,  worth,  and  wickedness  in  that  vast 
region !  Then,  if  you  regard  it  as  a  valued  part  of  the  United  States,  with 
its  immense  pastoral,  arable  and  mineral  resources,  give  Missouri  credit,  as 
the  main  agent  in  its  acquisition.  Missourians  took  possession  of  New  Mex 
ico  and  held  it.  All  the  rest  followed  in  due  sequence.  We  have  never 
boasted  of  our  achievements,  but  our  acts  gave  an  addition  to  the  empire 
not  easily  estimated. 

An  army  of  occupation,  as  ours  was  in  New  Mexico,  is  apt  to  have  some 
amusements ;  but  with  us,  these  were  not  of  very  high  order.  There  were 
a  few  drinking  shops  in  Santa  Fe,  but  on  the  whole  the  army  was  sober. 
Gambling  was  an  established  amusement,  before  our  advent,  and  went  on 
as  if  it  were  a  regular  business.  The  New  Mexican  game  of  Monte,  a  kind 
of  short-hand  faro  played  with  cards,  was  the  favorite ;  but  there  waa  too 
little  money  afloat  for  high  stakes.  I  have  no  recollection  of  any  serious 
quarrels  at  any  of  the  games,  and  think  none  such  occurred.  Considering 
our  distance  from  home  and  all  restraining  influences,  the  fact  that  no  shoot 
ing  or  cutting  scrapes  tarnished  our  record  is  creditable  to  the  Army  of  the 
West  and  to  the  State  of  Missouri. 

Nearly  every  night  there  was  a  d^nce  or  "  fandango,"  with  a  fiddle  and 
guitar  to  supply  the  music.  The  Mexican  musicians  have  few  tunes,  and 
those  so  nearly  resemble  each  other  that  it  did  not  matter  much  what  they 


250  NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

played,  as  the  exercises  could  go  on  with  zest  and  vigor.  As  the  dance  tunes 
were  the  same  as  those  played  on  the  same  instruments  in  the  church  ser 
vices,  the  women  folks  (in  New  Mexico  as  elsewhere,  the  most  regular 
church  goers)  were  familiar  with  all;  and  if  an  "Americano"  blundered  in 
the  dance  his  partner  could  easily  set  him  right.  The  appearance  of  an 
officer  in  uniform  generally  brought  a  complimentary  improvisation  by  the 
musicians  in  honor  of  him  and  partner,  and  he  was  expected  to  recognize  it 
by  a  gift  of  at  least  "  cuatro  reales,"  or  fifty  cents.  These  impromptu  songs 
were  said  by  those  who  understood  them  to  be  often  quite  creditable  to  the 
"musicos."  Quadrilles  and  Spanish  or  Mexican  polkas  and  waltzes  alter 
nated  ;  the  latter  graceful  and  pleasing.  There  was  generally  a  supply  of 
liquors  and  cakes  to  be  had,  and  the  lady  dancer  was  apt  to  expect  refresh 
ments  at  the  cost  of  her  partner  when  the  set  was  ended.  Good  order  was 
usual  at  these  entertainments.  The  volunteers  would  sometimes  swagger 
a  little,  but  the  Mexicans  would  preserve  their  good  humor,  enjoying  them 
selves  as  if  they  were  children. 

We  had  a  theatre  too.  A  large  room  in  the  palace  had  been  granted  by 
Governor  Bent  for  the  use  of  a  Thespian  Company,  organized  mainly  by 
some  of  the  Laclede  Rangers,  under  the  direction  of  the  projector,  Bernard 
McSorley,  still  a  citizen  of  St.  Louis.  McSorley  was  stage  manager,  and 
star  actor.  Under  his  direction  scenes  were  painted  and  the  "  sala"  fitted 
up  in  a  manner  that  would  have  made  Sol.  Smith  leap  for  joy  in  his  itiner 
ant  days,  when  he  sometimes  had  to  use  big  potatoes  for  candlesticks  in  his 
row  of  tallow  footlights.  The  play  on  the  first  night  was  Pizarro  in  Peru, 
or  the  Death  of  Holla,  and  was  well  sustained  to  a  "  crowded  house." 
McSorley  was  a  splendid  Pizarro,  and  conquered  the  audience  as  if  they 
were  real  Peruvians.  Elvira  was  done  by  Edward  W.  Shands,  and  Cora  by 
Wm.  Jamieson,  of  the  Rangers,  both  in  appropriate  female  costume,  doing 
their  best  to  look  the  characters  as  well  as  act  them.  After  the  tragedy 
came  negro  minstrels,  led  by  James  W.  Leal  of  the  Rangers,  who  afterwards 
suffered  so  terrible  a  death  in  Taos.  As  we  had  at  times  to  use  unbolted 
flour,  made  from  native  wheat  in  the  rude  native  mills,  one  of  the  conun 
drums  was— "  Why  are  the  volunteers  like  ladies'  bustles  ?  "—and  the 
answer — "  'case  they're  stuffed  with  bran !  " 

The  Mexican  ladies  were  much  amused  at  the  idea  of  a  hombres  "  (men) 
acting  feminine  characters,  and  said  it  might  do  in  the  "  Teatro,"  but  would 
not  answer  so  well  in  the  "  casa,"  or  dwelling. 

Sick  most  of  the  time — in  torture  from  neuralgia  and  rheumatism — una 
ble  to  march  south  with  Doniphaii  or  north  with  Price,  I  passed  a  winter 
of  discontent  and  misery.  Once  I  was  at  death's  door,  but  it  did  not  open. 
Everybody  expected  me  to  die,  but  the  idea  of  death  in  that  distant  land, 
was  so  repugnant  that  I  would  not  entertain  it.  I  would  think  of  the  loved 
ones  in  St.  Louis  and  elsewhere,  as  if  it  were  not  possible  to  leave  them, 
and,  strangely  enough,  I  did  not  think  I  would  die.  When  I  was  reduced 
to  the  condition  of  a  living  skeleton— so  little  flesh  on  my  frame  that  the 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEAKS.  251 

vertebrae  seemed  to  cut  through  the  skin,  and  I  could  hardly  lie  on  double 
wool  mattresses — I  smiled  at  the  two  doctors,  Major  Edmunson  and  his 
brother,  holding  a  whispered  conversation  in  the  corner  of  the  room,  looking 
very  grave,  and  shaking  their  heads.  I  thought  that  if  they  did  not  know 
what  ailed  me,  I  would  try  not  to  give  them  the  chance  of  finding  out  by  a 
post  mortem  examination.  I  had  been  kept  under  the  influence  of  colchicuin 
by  Dr.  DeCamp,  for  neuralgia  and  rheumatism,  and  after  he  marched  for  Taos 
I  had  taken  cold.  The  two  Edmunsons,  both  good  physicians,  believed  I 
had  internal  inflamation,  and  regarded  the  case  as  very  serious,  if  not  des 
perate.  Their  consultation  ended  by  sending  me  a  dose  of  medicine,  and 
I  finally  got  well.  They  had  given  me  sixty  grains  of  calomel. 

During  my  illness,  the  Mexican  ladies  of  the  families  I  had  become  ac 
quainted  with,  not  only  sent  me  the  wool  mattresses  to  replace  my  buffalo 
robes,  but  sent  little  cookeries  to  tempt  the  invalid's  appetite.  I  am  grate 
ful  yet  for  their  disinterested  kindness.  John  Ledyard,  the  remarkable 
traveller,  (who  was  in  Cook's  expedition  when  the  great  circumnavigator 
was  killed),  has  in  one  of  his  journals  a  passage  that  I  quote  for  those  who 
do  not  value  the  goodness  of  women : 

"  I  have  observed  among  all  nations  that  the  women  ornamented  them 
selves  more  than  the  men  ;  that,  wherever  found,  they  are  the  same  kind, 
civil,  obliging,  humane,  tender  beings;  that  they  are  all  inclined  to  be  gay 
and  cheerful,  timorous  and  modest.  They  do  not  hesitate  like  man,  to  per 
form  a  generous  or  hospitable  action  ;  not  haughty,  nor  arrogant,  nor  super 
cilious,  but  full  of  courtesy  and  fond  of  society ;  industrious,  economical, 
ingenuous  ;  more  liable  in  general  to  err  than  man,  but  in  general  also  more 
virtuous  and  performing  more  good  actions  than  he.  I  never  addressed 
myself  in  the  language  of  decency  and  friendship  to  a  woman,  whether  civ 
ilized  or  savage,  without  receiving  a  decent  and  friendly  answer.  In  wan 
dering  over  the  barren  plains  of  inhospitable  Denmark,  through  honest  Swe 
den,  frozen  Lapland,  rude  and  churlish  Finland,  unprincipled  Russia,  and 
the  wide-spread  regions  of  the  wandering  Tartar,  if  hungry,  dry,  cold,  wet 
or  sick,  woman  has  ever  been  friendly  to  me,  and  uniformly  so  ;  and  to  add 
to  this  virtue,  so  worthy  of  the  appelation  of  benevolence,  these  actions  have 
been  performed  in  so  free  and  so  kind  a  manner,  that  if  I  was  dry,  I  drank 
the  sweet  draught,  and  if  hungry,  ate  the  coarse  morsel  with  a  double 
relish." 

In  April,  Dr.  DeCamp  established  a  military  hospital  at  the  copious 
warm  springs  near  Las  Vegas.  There  is  now  a  large  hotel  there,  with  bath 
houses,  and  all  the  accompaniments  of  a  health  and  pleasure  resort.  It  is 
a  charming  locality,  but  I  will  not  describe  it,  as  the  railroad  folks  are  tell 
ing  the  public  all  about  it.  Boston  capital  has  enlivened  the  picturesque 
little  valley,  where  we  grazed  the  horses  of  the  Bangers,  thirty-seven  years 
ago. 

In  the  spring  of  1847,  many  outrages  had  been  committed  by  Indians  on 
the  plains,  and  even  in  the  borders  of  New  Mexico.  Major  Edmunson  was 


252  NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

sent  out  in  May  from  Santa  Fe,  with  seventy-five  men — a  dozen  Laclede 
Rangers  among  them — to  hunt  Indians,  and  if  possible  recover  stolen  ani 
mals.  In  a  deep  canyon  of  the  Canadian,  we  found  the  recently  deserted 
camp  of  the  enemy  ;  killing  two  or  three  of  them,  apparently  left  to  watch 
us.  While  we  were  looking  about  for  signs  of  Indians,  we  observed  them 
gathering  in  considerable  numbers  on  the  high  sides  of  the  canyon,  and 
they  began  to  shoot  down  at  us. 

The  "  boys  "  thought  it  was  great  fun.  We  were  to  have  a  fight  at  last, 
and  would  have  big  tales  to  tell  when  we  got  home.  Nobody  seemed  to 
mind  the  thuds  of  the  bullets  in  the  sand  at  our  feet,  as  none  of  them  had 
happened  to  strike  man»or  horse.  But  Major  Edmunson  did  not  think  we 
were  in  a  good  place  to  fight,  and  started  us  up  the  hill  and  along  a  rough 
bench  in  the  side  of  the  canyon,  to  get  a  better  position,  or  get  out  of  the 
gorge.  He  thought  it  unwise  to  stay  below,  where  the  Indians  could  shoot 
down  at  us,  and  there  was  no  certainty  that  our  balls  could  reach  up  to 
them. 

We  had  not  gone  far  till  I  did  a  wonderfully  foolish  thing.  In  total  dis 
regard  of  all  prudence,  I  mounted  a  rock  and  called  on  the  u  Laclede  Rang 
ers  "  to  stand  by  me,  and  we  would  have  a  fight  right  there.  We  did  have 
it.  Indians  were  following  us,  and  we  shot  at  them ;  that  is,  the  men  did, 
as  I  had  only  a  pistol  and  a  sabre.  Several  men  from  other  companies  had 
stopped  with  us,  and  we  had  a  lively  time,  the  balls  striking  the  rocks  all 
about  us,  but  mainly  going  over  our  heads.  It  has  been  told  of  George 
Washington,  that  he  "  liked  to  hear  the  music  of  bullets."  I  am  not  sure 
that  he  said  so,  but  I  know  we  heard  the  music,  and,  absurd  as  it  now 
seems,  we  rather  liked  it. 

Major  Edmunson  had  stopped  at  the  bottom  of  the  steep  hill  which  we 
would  have  to  go  down,  and  his  men  were  shooting  at  Indians  on  our  left 
that  we  could  not  see.  We  thought  they  were  shooting  at  our  Indians,  that 
we  knew  they  could  not  hit  from  their  position,  and  we  called  to  them  to 
come  up,  to]which  they  replied  by  calling  to  us  to  come  down — all  in  language 
adorned  with  expletives.  So  the  fight  went  on  for  an  indefinite  time,  and 
at  length,  as  cartridges  were  getting  scarce,  I  said  to  the  men,— "  we  had 
better  vamos." 

It  was  a  Mexican  word,  "  vamos,"  that  we  had  got  in  the  habit  of  using, 
and  meant  the  same  as  u  puck-a-chee  "  in  the  lingo  of  the  Kaw  Indians ; 
that  is,  "get  out  of  here  quick."  As  we  scrambled  down  the  hill,  (about 
as  steep  as  the  one  Putnam  went  down)  we  found  another  body  of  Indians 
had  got  clear  around  us,  and  if  we  had  not  begun  to  "  vamos"  from  our  posi 
tion  just  when  we  did,  we  should  have  staid  there.  We  also  learned  that 
the  Indians  on  our  left  that  the  Major  and  his  men  had  been  shooting  at, 
were  not  our  Indians  at  all,  but  another  set,  trying  to  cut  off"  our  further 
movements  ;  and  that  if  Major  Edmunson  had  not  acted  just  as  he  did,  none 
of  us  would  ever  have  come  out  alive. 

As  soon  as  we  got  to  the  bottom  of  the  hill,  we  all  started  up  the  canyon 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  253 

hastily.  Some  men  had  lost  their  horses,  and  were  mounted  behind  other 
men.  Joe  Bumbry  was  behind  me.  Haifa  mile  up  the  canyon,  we  crossed 
the  stream  to  get  up  a  slope  to  the  table  land,  where  the  side  of  the  canyon 
was  not  too  precipitous  for  a  passage  out.  The  Indians  were  after  us,  and 
some  of  our  men  stopped  on  the  rising  ground  beyond  the  creek,  and  shot 
over  our  heads  at  the  Indians,  who  were  coming  up  the  canyon  and  were 
shooting  at  us,  as  we  gathered  at  the  creek  and  crossed.  Two  of  the  Rang 
ers,  JohnEldridge  and  Martin  Wash,  were  on  one  horse,  and  were  hit  by 
one  buckshot,  which  touched  the  corner  of  Eldridge's  eye  and  went  into 
Wash's  cheek  and  out  at  his  neck.  They  had  foolishly  turned  their  horse 
to  shoot  back  at  the  Indians,  and  might  have  been  killed.  As  I  came  up  to 
them  Eldridge  was  lamenting  a  lost  eye  but  I  re-assured  him.  Wash  was 
spitting  blood,  and  said  to  me : 

"  Lieutenant — I  be  hanged  if  I  don't  think  I'm  shot  somehow  ! ' 

As  we  reached  the  crest,  and  began  to  emerge  on  the  table-land,  some  of 
the  Indians  were  just  coming  round  to  stop  us,  but  were  a  minute  too  late, 
and  disappeared.  The  roll  was  called  and  we  had  to  regret  the  loss  of  one 
man  from  Callaway  county.  In  the  final  charge  up  the  hill,  he  was  killed. 
The  Indians  were  charging  after  us. 

Our  haversacks  of  provisions,  and  some  other  property,  were  lost,  and 
although  night  had  come  (the  whole  engagement  lasted  four  or  five  hours), 
we  started  for  the  point  where  our  wagons  were  to  meet  us  ;  but  at  length, 
tired  out,  laid  down  till  daylight,  and  then  soon  reached  camp.  We  ate  and 
rested  till  afternoon,  when  a  body  of  horsemen  were  seen  in  the  distance, 
and  a  little  howitzer  was  loaded  and  got  ready  for  them.  But  they  turned 
out  to  be  Captain  John  C.  Dent  of  the  De  Kalb  Rangers,  with  a  reinforce 
ment. 

A  council  of  war  was  held  on  a  proposal  to  go  back  to  the  canyon ;  four 
ayes  and  five  noes.  I  voted  no.  We  had  neither  provisions  nor  ammunition 
to  continue  the  campaign.  Besides,  I  had  been  in  the  canyon,  and,  on  re 
flection,  did  not  like  it.  I  did  not  want  to  hear  any  more  bullets  singing. 
It  was  afterwards  ascertained  that  the  Indians  had  left  the  same  night  and 
gone  a  long  march  in  another  direction.  They  had  greatly  outnumbered  us, 
and  tlieir  loss  was  estimated  at  forty  killed. 

The  most  wonderful  thing  to  me  in  the  fight  was,  the  entire  absence  of 
fear.  In  crossing  the  creek,  a  possible  bullet  in  my  back  suggested  the 
'thought,  that  after  my  body  should  be  found  people  might  impugn  my 
courage ;  but  there  was  no  other  dread  of  that  possible  bullet.  But  at  the 
council  next  day  the  scare  that  I  ought  naturally  to  have  felt  in  the  fight 
came  on,  and  I  was  not  at  all  sorry  that  with  two  wounded  men,  no  provi 
sions,  and  no  ammunition,  my  negative  vote  was  a  matter  of  duty  as  well 
as  inclination.  I  have  never  been  in  a  fight  since,  but  have  held  bravery 
during  battle  in  low  estimation.  If  a  man  with  a  big  bump  of  caution 
could  be  as  cool  and  self-possessed  as  I  was  during  our  Indian  fight,  those 


254  NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY   YEARS. 

with  little  bumps  may  easily  be  heroes.  To  deliberately  go  into  battle  re 
quires  courage ;  but  once  in,  excitement  seems  to  swallow  up  fear. 

Our  term  of  enlistment  having  expired,  the  Rangers  under  my  command 
(and  myself  also)  were  honorably  discharged  from  the  service  of  the  United 
States,  and  on  13th  June  we  started  for  ll  home."  We  had  all  had  enough 
of  "war,"  though  if  there  had  been  necessity  we  should  have  remained. 
The  "  boys  "  were  as  jubilant  as  on  the  day  we  started  from  Leavenworth  a 
year  before ;  but  none  of  us  appreciated  the  importance  of  the  work  which 
the  Army  of  the  West  had  done,  and  the  immense  addition  we  had  helped 
to  make  to  the  domain  of  the  American  Eagle. 

Often  had  the  boys  talked  of  home  and  the  people  there,  and  hoped  they 
might  once  more  hear  the  rain  on  a  shingle  roof,  and  see  women  with  bon 
nets  !  The  earthen  roofs  of  New  Mexico  had  no  music  in  them ;  the  rebosas 
worn  over  their  heads  by  the  women  had  become  monotonous.  Our  march 
was  enlivened  by  outbursts  of  song  : 

1st  Voice.    "  Listen  to  me— listen  to  me ! 

What  do  you  want  to  see,  to  see? 

All  A  woman  under  a  bonnet— 

A  woman  under  a  bonnet— 
That's  what  we  want  to  see,  to  see ! 
That's  what  we  want  to  see ! 

1st  Voice.    "  When  to  home  you're  drawing  near, 
What  do  you  want  to  hear,  to  hear? 

All.  We  want  to  hear,  to  hear  again, 

On  the  shingle  roof  the  blessed  rain!— 
That's  what  we  want  to  hear,  to  hear— 
That's  what  we  want  to  hear ! " 

Mr.  Solomon  Houck,  of  Boonville,  Missouri,  was  returning  from  Mexico 
with  wagons  and  a  number  of  loose  mules.  He  would  gladly  transport  our 
baggage  in  order  to  have  us  added  to  his  guard,  as  the  proceeds  of  his  com 
mercial  venture  were  in  the  wagons :  several  thousand  dollars  in  silver. 
The  coin  was  in  packages  of  raw  hide,  which  having  been  wet  when  the 
packages  were  made  up,  had  shrunk  tightly  round  the  dollars  in  drying. 
Mr.  Webb,  also  a  "Santa  Fe  Trader,"  Mr.  Fitzpatrick,  and  two  or  three 
other  persons  took  advantage  of  Mr.  Houck's  train,  and  altogether  we  had 
a  pleasant  party. 

Coming  down  the  Arkansas  Valley,  we  had  taken  the  "  bluff  road  "  at 
the  Coon  Creeks,  and  were  on  the  look  out  for  Indians.  Early  one  morning, 
the  alarm  was  given  that  a  party  of  Indians  was  in  the  road  some  distance 
ahead  of  us.  We  could  all  see  them  plainly.  Mr.  Webb  looked  through  his 
glass,  and  said  one  of  them  was  mounted  on  a  white  horse.  But  there  were 
only  a  dozen  of  them,  and  if  they  meant  mischief,  they  would  hardly  show 
themselves  in  that  way,  unless  to  induce  us  to  chase  them,  and  get  into  an 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  255 

ambush,  which  we  need  not  do.  So  we  moved  on,  with  a  guard  in  advance 
and  the  wagons  well  brought  together.  We  had  gone  but  a  short  distance 
when  our  Indians  disappeared,  and  a  dozen  crows  flew  away !  The  mirage 
had  magnified  the  crows  to  the  size  of  men  on  horseback,  and  the  white 
horse  that  Mr.  Webb  had  seen  with  his  glass,  was  the  skull  of  a  buffalo ! 

An  hour  later  a  party  of  five  horsemen  galloped  towards  us  from  a  camp 
we  could  see  away  at  the  river,  on  our  right.  They  had  been  sent  to  us  by 
Capt.  Love,  U.  S.  A.,  to  warn  us  of  danger,  as  he  had  had  a  fight  with  In 
dians  the  day  before,  and  some  of  his  dragoons  had  been  killed.  Mr.  Houck 
decided  at  once  to  march  to  Capt.  Love's  camp,  spend  the  day,  and  go  on  in 
the  night.  When  we  got  ready  to  start  at  dark,  the  bell  was  taken  off  the 
old  mule,  leader  of  the  loose  ones,  as  we  feared  the  Indians  might  hear  it. 
Hardly  had  we  started,  when  all  the  loose  mules,  not  hearing  the  accus 
tomed  bell,  began  to  bray ! 

We  made  our  night  march  in  safety ;  marched  all  next  day  ;  stopped  at 
dark  for  supper,  and  then  marched  on  again  some  miles  to  the  point  where 
the  road  leaves  the  Arkansas,  and  laid  down  to  welcome  sleep.  We  saw 
no  Indians  except  some  friendly  Osages,  on  a  buffalo  hunt,  in  sight  when 
we  woke  up. 

Now,  as  New  Mexico  was  part  of  the  United  States,  it  would  seem  to  a 
man  not  in  office  that  the  United  States  ought  to  have  had  a  safe  road  to 
the  province.  Yet  so  wretchedly  were  affairs  managed  at  Washington 
under  all  administrations,  that  murders  and  depredations  were  continued  by 
the  Indians  on  the  plains  from  1847  up  to  the  time  private  capital  had  put  a 
railroad  in  the  Arkansas  Valley  !  It  seemed  that  there  was  never  capacity 
in  the  government  to  deal  with  the  wild  Indian  question. 

In  thirty  days  from  Santa  Fe,  we  were  at  Independence,  and  snug  in 
Mr.  Noland's  hotel.  In  four  days  more  we  were  in  St.  Louis.  You  can  go 
to  Santa  Fe  now  from  Independence  in  about  thirty  hours,  but  you  can't 
come  back  as  we  did,  "  conquistadores."  The  old  town  is  still  the  Capital 
of  the  Territory,  but  Las  Vegas,  Albuquerque,  Socorro  and  other  towns,  are 
active  and  energetic  rivals. 

After  my  return  to  St.  Louis,  I  wore  for  a  few  days  the  mustache  I  had 
brought  home  with  me,  but  I  had  to  shave  it  off.  No  business  man  then 
wore  a  mustache,  and  I  did  not  wish  to  be  conspicuous.  It  was  very  rare  to 
see  any  but  shaven  faces.  But  the  custom  of  wearing  the  beard  has  become 
almost  universal.  Beards  had  become  prevalent  before  1861,  and  the  times 
from  that  to  1865  were  not  calculated  to  restore  the  custom  of  close  shaving. 
What  this  change  in  the  mode  of  treating  the  hirsute  growth  on  our  faces 
may  portend,  I  leave  the  philosophers  to  find  out.  I  only  state  for  the  ben 
efit  of  historical  students,  the  fact,  that  the  almost  universal  wearing  of 
mustaches  in  the  United  States  did  not  begin  till  after  the  Army  of  the 
West  had  conquered  New  Mexico. 

St.  Louis  did  not  seem  to  have  missed  us,  but  kept  on  growing — even 
making  money  by  army  contracts,  while  we  were  away  off  conquering  prov- 


256  NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

inces.  Relatives  and  friends  were  glad  to  see  us  ;  but  we  were  too  late  for 
the  ovation  to  Donpihan,  and  the  Rangers  who  had  come  home  with  him. 
So  we  quietly  subsided  to  private  life. 

My  law  shop  was  opened  again,  and  prospered  in  a  moderate  way.  Not 
long  after  my  return,  I  was  engaged  to  defend  Antoine  DeHatre  against 
an  indictment]  for  assault  with  intent  to  kill.  Antoine  lived  in  the 
country,  and  in  a  family  quarrel  had  struck  his  mother-in-law  on  the  head 
with  a  piece  of  oak  stuff  split  out  in  making  clap-boards.  The  stick  was 
described  as  about  two  inches  square,  more  or  less,  and  three  or  four  feet 
long.  It  was  a  serious  case,  but  some  of  the  Rangers  had  told  his  uncle, 
Thomas  Withington,  that  I  was  the  lawyer  to  get  him  clear,  and  Mr.  With- 
ington,  like  a  sensible  man,  had  given  me  as  retainer  a  handsome  fifty  dol 
lar  note  of  the  old  Bank  of  Missouri. 

This  bad  conduct  of  Antoine  had  happened  before  the  newspapers  had 
begun  their  despicable  attempts  to  be  witty  and  funny  about  mothers-in- 
law,  (but  with  no  jibes  for  sons-in-law  or  daughters-in-law)  and  there  was 
much  feeling  against  him.  It  seemed  so  wicked  and  cowardly  to  strike  an 
elderly  woman  on  the  head  with  a  piece  of  clap-board  stuff,  that  any  honest 
jury  would  almost  strain  a  point  to  convict.  But  strong  as  the  case  was, 
the  relations  of  the  old  lady  were  not  satisfied  to  leave  it  simply  to  the  Cir 
cuit  Attorney,  but  had  employed  Captain  Hudson  to  aid  in  the  prosecution. 
At  my  suggestion,  Major  Uriel  Wright,  regarded  as  one  of  the  finest  orators 
at  the  bar,  was  called  into  the  case  on  our  side,  and  was  to  rank  as  leading 
counsel. 

In  the  case  of  Mary  McMenamy,  the  offender  got  off  on  a  technicality, 
but  there  was  no  such  chance  for  Antoine.  The  only  thing  I  could  do  was 
to  undermine  Capt.  Hudson's  oratory,  and  leave  Maj.  Wright  to  argue  the 
oaken  club  into  a  harmless  weapon,  if  he  could.  Accordingly,  I  began  my 
speech  to  the  jury  very  modestly,  magnifying  the  power  of  Hudson's  elo 
quence,  and  warning  them  against  it.  Then  briefly  giving  an  account  of  his 
address  to  the  Rangers  at  Fort  Leavenworth,  when  they  were  all  hungry 
for  supper,  and  he  put  them  supperless  to  bed  with  a  speech,  I  closed. 

"  Such,  gentlemen,  is  the  man  that  will  address  you.  It  might  seem 
irreverent  to  refer  to  the  miraculous  feeding  of  the  multitude  under  the  new 
dispensation,  by  one  who  was  more  than  man  ;  but  I  may  be  permitted  to 
say,  that  never  has  mortal  man,  since  Moses  and  the  Children  of  Israel  fed 
on  manna  in  the  wilderness,  achieved  so  wonderful  a  success  in  the  commis 
sary  line,  as  did  Capt.  Hudson  at  Fort  Leavenworth  !  " 

Court,  jury  and  spectators  saw  the  point  and  enjoyed  it.  I  had  the  laugh 
on  my  side,  and  when  Hudson  addressed  the  jury,  his  most  eloquent  appeals 
only  brought  to  their  minds  the  ludicrous  picture  of  the  Rangers  at  Fort 
Leavenworth  supping  on  his  oratory.  Antoine  was  acquitted.  The  young 
lawyer  will  think  this  success  in  the  criminal  court  ought  to  have  encour 
aged  me.  But  I  reflected  that  Mary  McMenamy  and  Antoine  DeHatre  had 
both  been  guilty  of  the  offences  charged,  and  I  had  aided  them  to  escape 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  257 

the  due  penalties.  I  began  to  feel  like  an  accessory  after  the  fact.  It  is  a 
pretty  theory,  that  everybody  charged  with  crime  shall  have  a  fair  trial ; 
but  I  began  to  ask  myself  the  question,  whether  the  trial  ought  not  to  be 
fair  to  the  state  as  well  as  to  the  defendant  ?  In  the  cases  mentioned  I  had 
not  simply  endeavored  to  see  fair  dealing  between  the  state  and  the  defend 
ants,  but  had  tried  to  get  them  clear  by  any  means  at  hand.  Was  I  not 
clearly  on  the  side  of  the  criminal  classes,  and  acting  against  society? 

Unfortunately,  I  was  not  like  the  celebrated  criminal  lawyer  of  Philadel 
phia,  David  Paul  Brown,  who  never  had  any  other  than  innocent  clients. 
Mr.  Brown  could  always  persuade  himself  that  the  accused  was  guiltless ; 
hence  the  force  of  his  eloquence  was  apt  to  carry  the  jury  along,  in  spite  of 
adverse  facts.  Not  blessed  with  an  imagination  so  powerful,  conscience 
urged  me  to  give  up  the  law  as  soon  as  possible,  and  after  two  years  of  very 
fair  success  in  the  way  of  income,  as  my  old  fee  book  shows,  I  gave  up 
the  profession. 

Early  in  1849  I  made  a  business  visit  to  Washington,  and  was  at  the  in 
auguration  of  Zachary  Taylor  as  President,  on  the  5th  of  March.  Mr.  Polk's 
term  had  expired  March  4th,  and  Senator  David  R.  Atchison,  of  Missouri, 
as  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate,  was  president  of  the  United  States  from 
12  o'clock  Saturday  night  till  Gen.  Taylor  was  sworn  in  on  Monday ;  but 
our  Missouri  Senator  did  not  claim  the  chance  dignity.  Col.  D.  D.  Mitchell, 
of  St.  Louis,  was  tendered  the  Governorship  of  Minnesota  Territory,  then 
just  organized,  but  declined.  He  only  wished  to  be  re-instated  as  Superin 
tendent  of  Indian  Affairs  at  St.  Louis.  A  Mr.  Pennington,  of  New  Jersey, 
also  refused  the  Governor's  place.  Alexander  Ramsey,  then  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  was  in  Washington,  and  I  suggested  to  him  that  he  had  better  take 
the  Minnesota  Governorship,  and  "grow  up  with  the  country."  I  may  have 
said  "go  west,  young  man,"  but  think  not.  Mr.  Ramsey  took  the  place, 
and  the  entire  west  knows  how  ably  he  filled  it. 

Most  men  would  rather  confess  to  wickedness  than  weakness.  The 
former  seems  more  heroic ;  but  I  am  only  able  to  acknowledge  the  latter. 
While  in  Washington,  at  Taylor's  inauguration,  Col.  Mitchell  said  to  me 
that  he  would  propose  my  appointment  as  Governor  of  Minnesota,  and 
was  very  sure  that  I  would  be  chosen,  as  he  was  very  intimate  with  the 
President.  With  absurd  modesty  I  declined.  I  never  even  thought,  then, 
that  Col.  Mitchell,  under  whom  I  had  served  as  Indian  agent,  might  be  a 
better  judge  than  I  of  my  qualifications.  I  have  never  read  the  "  Con 
fessions  "  of  Jean  Jacques  Rosseau,  but  doubt  if  he  ever  owned  to  declining 
as  big  an  office  as  the  governorship  of  Minnesota.  Fortunately  for  the  Ter 
ritory,  Ramsey  had  faith  in  himself,  and  the  Territory  did  not  lose  any 
thing,  but  probably  gakied.  It  was  all  a  matter  of  destiny.  Some  people 
are  born  to  decline  office. 


258  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

FIRST  REAL  ESTATE  OFFICE  IN  ST.  LOUIS— LEFFINGWELL  &  ELLIOTT— PESTI 
LENCE  AND  FIRE — SONG  OF  THE  CHOLERA — SOLILOQUY  OF  THE  UNDER 
TAKER — MEDITATIONS  OF  THE  SEXTON — PACIFIC  RAILROAD  CONVENTION — 
STATUE  OF  COLUMBUS— REAL  ESTATE  REGISTER— GUESSES  AT  POPULATION 
— STATESMANSHIP  NEEDED — GRAND  AVENUE — FOREST  PARK. 

Hiram  W.  Leffingwell  was  born  in  Massachusetts  in  1809.  His  father 
moved  to  northwestern  Pennsylvania  in  1818,  as  agent  of  the  Holland  Com 
pany,  which  had  estates  to  sell  in  that  region.  Hiram,  after  a  boyhood  of 
farm  work,  a  youth  of  school  teaching,  then  a  dip  into  the  legal  profession, 
followed  by  a  trial  of  farming  in  northern  Illinois — hauling  his  wheat  from 
Rock  River  to  Chicago,  and  selling  it  for  fifty  cents  a  bushel— finally  opened 
in  St.  Louis  the  first  Real  Estate  office  west  of  the  Mississippi,  for  the  sale 
of  lots,  houses  and  lands  on  commission.  Like  Washington,  he  was  a  land 
surveyor,  and  connected  this  pursuit  with  his  main  calling.  A  man  of  san 
guine  temperament,  and  of  great  energy  and  industry,  he  soon  became  an 
authority  on  matters  relating  to  real  property,  and  did  much  service  to  the 
public  by  his  sound  advice  in  regard  to  laying  out  "Additions  "  to  the  city. 
I  had  arranged  a  partnership  with  him  to  begin  with  the  auction  sales  of 
lots  in  the  spring  of  1849. 

The  firm  of  Leffingwell  &  Elliott  had  held  but  one  sale,  when  the  Asiatic 
cholera  was  declared  to  be  epidemic.  On  the  17th  of  May,  a  large  part  of  the 
business  district  of  the  city  wras  destroyed  by  fire.  By  these  calamities  of 
pestilence  and  fire,  the  general  business  of  the  city  was  for  a  time  almost 
entirely  prostrated,  and  of  course  real  estate  would  sell  but  slowly,  when  no 
one  was  sure  from  day  to  day  whether  he  would  ever  need  more  land  than 
enough  to  bury  him.  It  had  been  previously  the  custom  to  toll  church  bells 
for  funerals,  but  this  was  interdicted,  as  of  injurious  effect  on  the  imagina 
tion  of  those  touched  by  disease,  as  well  as  of  those^n  sound  health.  In  this 
universal  distress,  we  all  tried  to  be  cheerful,  and  to  resist  the  pestilence  by 
not  fearing  it,  if  possible.  But  it  was  a  sad  time,  as  out  of  a  population  of 
60,000  to  65,000  there  were  some  4,000  or  5,000  deaths  from  cholera  alone. 
Business  was  dull,  and  I  occupied  some  of  my  leisure  in  writing  for  the  news- 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  259 

papers.    Hence  the  "  Song  of  the  Cholera,"  in  which  the  pestilence  does  not 
exaggerate  its  doings  at  the  time  : 

SONG  OF  THE  CHOLERA. 

(St.  Louis,  1S49.) 

Death— Death— Death ! 

Cold,  and  ghastly  and  grim ! 
He  comes  to  claim,  the  living  breath, 

And  there's  no  denying  him. 
He's  the  only  monarch  of  earth 

Who  rightly  wears  a  crown- 
In  palace  hall,  or  by  hovel's  hearth, 

Ye  are  subjects  all  his  own. 

Childhood,  youth  and  age— 

And  manhood's  proudest  forms, 
Alike  his  blasting  care  engage — 

He  gives  them  all  to  worms. 
With  a  reckless,  ruthless  air 

He  scatters  his  arrows  round — 
The  old,  the  young,  the  strong,  the  fair, 

Are  stricken  to  the  ground. 

Ye  humbly  pray  and  fast — 
Ye  may  all  in  sackcloth  -mourn ; 

B-ut  ye'll  hear  his  trumpet's-fearful  blast, 
And  he'll  latigh  ye  all  to  scorn ! 

By  right  divine  doth  he  rule- 
He's  a  king  by  God's  decree; 

And  no  art  is  taught  in  church  or  school 
To  conquer  such  as  he ! 

Amidst  ye  now  I  sport, 
For  I  bring  his  orders  here ; 

And  my  master  holds  his  awful  court 
While  ye  tremble  in  your  fear. 

Dethroned  ye  kings  of  earth? 
Ye  might  smile  their  fall  to  see ; 

But  the  king  I  serve  is  of  higher  birth- 
Can  ye  conquer  such  as  he? 

The  phrase  "  Dethroned  ye  kings  of  earth,"  was  an  allusion  to  the  revo 
lutions  of  1848  in  Europe,  where  it  seemed  as  if  republican  government  was 
about  to  be  generally  established. 

Metallic  caskets  had  not  then  come  into  use,  and  the  Undertaker  had 
usually  a  supply  of  wooden  coffins  in  his  shop,  set  up  on  end  in  the  front 
part,  where  the  passers-by  could  see  them.  The  Soliloquy  of  the  Under 
taker,  as  published  in  the  Reveille,  was  true  to  the  life,  when  it  was  liter 
ally  the  case  that  whole  families  were  "  all  swept  by  death  away." 


260  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

THE  UNDERTAKER'S  SOLILOQUY. 

(St.  Louis,  1849.) 

'  Tis  a  lively,  worky  time- 
It's  driving  here  and  there— 

Though  the  bells  may  toll  no  funeral  chime, 
Yet  trade  is  passing  fair! 

From  morning's  early  light, 
Ere  others  rise  or  dress, 

Till  round  us  close  the  shades  of  night, 
The  "  orders  "  on  me  press ! 

(This  coffin  all  in  virgin  white, 
For  a  maiden,  should  be  drest.) 

Saw,  and  plane,  and  screw— 
(This  lumber's  scarcely  dry)— 

Such  a  lucky  hit,  in  a  business  view, 
Ne'er  saw  I  yet— not  I ! 

"  Business,"  I've  heard  men  say, 
"  Is  business,"  in  every  line— 

And  it  seems  that  I,  in  a  humble  way, 
Have  a  harvest,  now,  in  mine. 

(Three  times  has  "  six  "  been  out  to  day- 
Send  this  by  number  "  nine") 

Why— they  want  a  plate  of  gold, 

To  'grave  this  name  upon ! 
They  might  (if  I  may  be  so  bold), 

Have  us'd  a  silver  one : 
But  gilt 's  the  fashion  now,  I'm  told, 

'Mongst  people  of  the  ton. 
Silk  velvet,  too,  they'll  have 

Around  the  lifeless  clay ! 
(Good  folks  we  carry  to  the  grave, 

In  tabby,  every  day !) 

Reports  this  morning  tell 

That  things  are  "rather  worse" — 
If  the  list  continues  thus  to  swell, 

I'll  get  another  hearse. 
An  order  here  for  three ! 

I  can  hardly  send  them  all : 
Of  "  ready  made  "  we've  none,  you  see, 

Lean'd  up  against  the  wall. 
Time  was,  when  round  they  stood, 

Our  "  custom  "  to  allure- 
Put  up  of  every  kind  of  wood, 

To  suit  each  connoisseur ! 
(This  goes  to  a  filthy  neighborhood, 

Where  the  vicious  are,  and  poor.) 

'Tis  a  time  men's  souls  to  try, 
And  women's  hearts  to  melt; 

And  I'm  not  ashamed  to  own— ev'n  I 
Some  tenderness  have  felt. 

For  once,  with  the  big  tear  in  mine  eye, 
O'er  a  daughter,  dead,  I  kuelt. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEABS.  261 

Sure,  'tis  a  lovely  thing, 

Around  the  dying  bed, 
To  see  affection  minist'ring— 

Or  weeping  o'er  the  dead ! 
But  scenes  more  fearful  far 

I  witness  every  day- 
No  pen  or  pencil  ever  dare 

Their  horrors  all  portray : 
When  families  in  an  hour  are 

All  swept  by  death  away ! 

Myself  almost  could  shed 

Some  unaccustom'd  tears, 
To  think  how  many  persons  dead, 

Have  'taken  of  my  biers ! 
Yet  what  would  tears  avail? 

'Tis  better  not  to  grieve ; 
For  when  the  living  bodies  fail, 

A  job  to  me  they  give— 
'Midst  parents',  wives',  and  husbands'  wail, 

They  die,  that  I  may  live ! 

Screw,  and  plane,  and  saw, 

The  hammer  and  the  square  !— 
A  pestilence  that  owns  no  law, 

Is  raging  everywhere ! 
The  huckster  in  the  stall 

Ne'er  thinks  of  trade  forestall'd— 
The  doctor  dreads  a  diff'rent  "  call," 

As  he's  to  patients  call'd— 
And  even  those  who  bear  the  pall, 

Themselves  are  sore  appall'd ! 

As  a  further  illustration  of  what  our  community  went  through,  the 
Meditations  of  the  Sexton  may  be  given.  Survivors  will  recognize  the  truth 
of  the  remark,  that  "men  put  on  a  coat  each  day,"  rejoicing  that  it  was  not 
a  shroud. 

MEDITATIONS  OF  THE  SEXTON. 

(St.  Louis,  1849.) 

My  trade  is  brisk  and  gay— 

What  profits  I  shall  win  !— 
For  I'm  digging  gold  the  livelong  day. 

As  I  take  the  coffins  in. 
Delve,  and  shovel,  and  fling, 

From  morn  till  midnight  gloom ! 
Death's  angels  all  are  on  the  wing,— 

'Tis  the  Triumph  of  the  Tomb ! 
And  joyously  I'll  work  and  sing— 

For  the  cry  is—"  still  they  come ! " 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

Station,  wealth  and  rank— 

What  baubles  they  appear ! 
A  thought  of  the  grave,  so  cold  and  dank, 

Their  vot'ry  fills  with  fear- 
But  the  fresh  clay  mould  gets  a  merry  spank, 
And  I  feel  like  playing  a  school -day  prank, 

As  my  spade  I  nourish  here ! 


There— that  was  a  prattling  child- 
No  more  than  three  years  old  :— 

Why  doth  the  mother  stare  so  wild?— 
Sure  the  boy  is  dead  and  cold ! 

If  so  sweet  the  little  cherub  smiled, 
Why  wish  it  to  grow  old? 

But  a  mother's  heart  was  ne'er  beguil'd, 
By  thought  like  this,  I'm  told. 

When  thus  in  childhood's  time, 

Their  little  frames  decay- 
It  shocks  us  not,  as  when  manhood's  prime 

Is  torn  by  Death  away. 
Here  came — one  hearse — last  week, 

A  father  and  his  son ; — 
Then  my  heart  was  full  (but  my  heart  was  weak), 

To  see  such  mischief  done ; 
Of  the  man  I  heard  the  people  speak, 

As  a  noble,  honest  one. 

Lower  it  gently,  gently— so ! 

And  now  on  the  coffin- lid 
Let  the  dust  fall  light,  like  flakes  of  snow, 

'Till  all  from  sight  is  hid ! 
'Tis  a  fearful  thing  they  say 

For  a  mourning  mother's  ear, 
To  note  the  falling  clods  of  clay 

O'er  her  infant's  body  here ; 
So  I  sometimes  wish  they'd  keep  away, 

And  not  come  Aveeping  near. 

Away  on  the  hill,  I  see, 

Another  train  comes  on ; — 
(Thus  crowd  the  victims  here  to  me, 

E'er  the  last  job's  fully  done !) 
'Tis  a  doleful  time,  they  say, 

In  the  city's  trembling  crowd; 
And  belles,  their  gew-gaws  laid  away, 

In  pray'r  and  fast  are  bow'd,— 
And  men  put  on  a  coat  each  day, 

In  joy  'tis  not  a  shroud ! 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  263 

Hark !  'tis  a  widow's  wail, 

That  laclens  now  the  air ! 
But  a  little  while— 'tis  a  sad  old  tale— 

The  bride  was  so  blithe  and  fair ! 
Yes— to  me  they've  brought  him  here— 

(This  corpse  has  a  wond'rous  heft), 
E'en  my  own  old  eye  might  drop  a  tear, 

To  think  of  her  bereft ; 
And  ye,t,  like  a  blessing  it  doth  appear, 

There  are  no  orphans  left. 

Delve,  and  shovel,  and  fling— 

The  sceptre  here's— a  spade ! 
(I'll  wipe  this  tear  away — and  sing) , 

As  I  drive  my  growing  trade. 
No  sympathy  I'll  feel — 

No  touch  of  sadness  know— 
A  Sexton's  heart  should  be  made  of  steel, 

Too  hard  for  other's  woe ; — 
For  to  him  there's  never  Life  so  real, 

As  when  Death  is  all  the  go ! 

It  is  imposible  to  estimate  the  loss  suffered  by  St.  Louis  from  fire  and 
pestilence  in  1849  ;  but  the  spirit  of  her  people  was  not  broken.  Arrange 
ments  were  at  once  made  to  build  up  the  burned  district  better  than  it  was 
before,  and  this  was  in  a  short  time  accomplished.  The  loss  by  the  "  big 
fire"  was  possibly  as  great  in  proportion  as  that  of  Chicago  in  1871,  but  I 
do  not  recollect  that  any  "relief"  was  sent  from  other  parts.  We  had 
even  life  and  spirit  enough  left  to  look  beyond  our  immediate  interests,  and 
concern  ourselves  with  those  of  the  world  at  large.  Lifting  ourselves  above 
local  calamities,  we  looked  even  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  to  the  far  away 
Orient.  It  seems  queer,  that  in  a  time  of  so  much  disaster,  we  should  have 
had  a  thought  to  spare  for  such  a  thing  as  a  railroad  across  the  continent. 
We,  however,  not  only  thought  of  it,  but  acted.  In  May,  Isaac  H.  Sturgeon 
(Still  an  honored  and  useful  citizen)  introduced  resolutions  which  were 
passed  by  the  City  Council,  calling  a  National  Convention  to  meet  in  St 
Louis  in  October,  to  consider  the  subject  of  a  PACIFIC  RAILROAD. 

The  Convention  was  largely  attended,  and  did  much  to  fix  attention  on 
the  great  project.  Douglas  made  a  strong  speech ;  Richard  W.  Thompson, 
of  Indiana,  delivered  a  splendid  oration ;  and  the  great  Benton  made  one  of 
his  best  efforts,  closing  as  follows  : 

"  Let  us  beseech  the  national  legislature  to  build  the  great  road  upon  the 
great  national  line,  which  suits  Europe  and  Asia— the  line  which  will  find 
on  our  continent  the  bay  'of  San  Francisco  at  one  end,  St.  Louis  in  the  mid 
dle,  the  national  metropolis  and  great  commercial  emporium  at  the  other 
end— the  line  which  will  be  adorned  with  its  crowning  honor,  the  colossal 
statue  of  the  great  Columbus,  whose  design  it  accomplishes,  hewn  from  the 
granite  mass  of  a  peak  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  overlooking  the  road— the 


264  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

pedestal  and  the  statue  a  part  of  the  mountain,  pointing  with  outstretched 
arm  to  the  western  horizon  and  saying  to  the  flying  passenger,  there  is  the 
East— there  is  India  !  " 

Benton's  attitude  was  grand,  as  he  delivered  this  peroration ;  but  the 
statue  of  Columbus  is  not  yet  hewn ;  and  the  statue  of  Benton  himself,  in 
the  beautiful  Lafayette  Park  of  St.  Louis,  is  looking  down  at  a  scroll,  in 
stead  of  having  his  erect  attitude  and  impressive  presence,  as  he  stretched 
out  his  arm  at  the  close  of  one  of  the  most  brilliant  speeches  of  his  life. 

Our  Pacific  Railroad  Convention,  held  amidst  the  debris  of  a  most 
calamitous  season,  was  one  of  the  aids  in  educating  the  American  people, 
but  when,  thirteen  years  later,  Congress  acted  on  the  Pacific  Railroad  ques 
tion,  the  prevalence  of  civil  war  threw  the  line  north  of  the  latitude  of  St. 
Louis,  and  for  years  after  its  completion,  this  city  was  practically  ignored 
by  the  very  road  which  we  had  been  most  persistent  in  urging  upon  the 
attention  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Leffingwell  was  the  first  in  St.  Louis  to  collect  plats  of  additions  to 
the  city,  and  other  data  needed  in  regard  to  locality  and  boundaries  of  landed 
property.  Except  the  government  land  offices,  there  was  no  other  real 
estate  "  bureau"  in  all  the  broad  domain  west  of  the  Mississippi,  less  than 
thirty-five  years  ago ! 

In  February,  1850,  Leffingwell  &  Elliott  published  the  "  Real  Estate  Reg 
ister,"  with  statistics  and  arguments  in  it,  intended  to  show  the  present 
and  prospective  value  of  real  estate  in  St.  Louis  and  vicinity ;  and  this,  I 
think,  was  the  first  publication  of  the  kind  ever  issued  anywhere  in  the 
world ;  the  first  special  paper  that  not  only  undertook  to  designate  the  par 
cels  of  real  estate  offered  for  sale,  but  to  give  reasons  why  they  should  be 
bought;  to  point  out  facts  likely  to  affect  the  future  growth  of  the  country 
and  of  the  city,  and  thus  to  recommend  the  property  in  the  market.  All 
the  various  and  multitudinous  publications  issued  since,  by  Railroad  Com 
panies,  Town  Companies,  Boards  of  Immigration,  and  other  organizations, 
urging  people  to  buy  or  occupy  lands,  are  but  successors  of  our  Real  Estate 
Register,  issued  only  a  third  of  a  century  ago !  As  a  pioneer  in  this  sort  of 
literature,  I  would  feel  sadly  if  I  did  not  know  that  it  would  in  time  have 
grown  up  if  I  had  never  led  off  in  it ;  and  my  conscience  acquits  me  of  any 
share  in  the  guilt  of  possible  exaggerations  in  the  millions  of  papers  issued 
by  other  persons.  We  were  also  the  first  to  use  lithograph  plats  of  land  and 
lots  for  sale,  west  of  the  Mississippi.  The  facts  stated  in  this  paragraph  are 
of  value  as  showing  that  the  great  activity  in  land  transactions  in  the  "great 
west,"  only  began  about  the  middle  of  the  century. 

The  views  given  in  our  Real  Estate  Register  of  the  position  and  prospects 
of  St.  Louis  were  somewhat  rosy,  but  on  the  whole  instructive,  and  not 
more  sanguine  than  was  natural  under  the  circumstances.  The  future 
growth  of  the  city  was  a  little  overestimated ;  but  in  regard  to  the  develop 
ment  of  the  country  by  railroads,  the  increase  of  population  and  inanufac- 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  265 

tures  in  the  west,  and  kindred  topics,  the  sanguine  views  presented  have 
by  events  been  proved  to  have  been  altogether  too  moderate. 

A  table  of  the  population  of  the  United  States  at  each  census  from  1790 
was  given  in  the  Register,  and  some  forecasts  for  the  future,  which  I  repro 
duce  and  compare  with  the  actual  census : 

YEARS.  FORECASTS.  CENSUS.  DIFFERENCE. 

1850  22,871,270  23,191,876  320,606 

1860  29,732,651  31,443,321  1,710,670 

1870  38,642,446  38,588,371  84,075 

1880  50,235,179  50,155,783  79,396 

The  estimate  for  1890  was  65,305,632,  and  for  1900  it  was  84,879,451.  The 
increase  from  1880  to  1890  was  assumed  at  30  per  cent,  for  the  decade.  At  25 
per  cent,  the  population  in  1890  would  be  62,694,720.  By  reference  to  the 
appended  table  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  no  extravagance  in  anticipating 
a  ratio  of  increase  of  25  to  27  per  cent,  from  1880  to  1890. 

Table  showing  the  Population  of  the  United  States  at  each  Census,  and  ratio 
of  increase  in  each  decade. 

YEAR.  CENSUS.  RATIO  OF  INCREASE. 

1790  3,929,827  « 

1800  5,305,925  35.01 

1810  7,239,814  36.45 

1820  9,654,596  33.35 

1830  12,866,020  33.26 

1840  17,069,453  32.67 

1850  23,191,876  35.87 

1860  31,443,321  35.58 

1870  38,558,371  22.63 

1880  50,155,783  30.09 

At  a  ratio  of  27  per  cent,  to  1890,  we  will  have  in  that  year  a  population 
of  63,697,844  ;  and  then  with  25  per  cent,  to  1900,  we  will  have  at  the  close  of 
the  century,  only  17  years  hence,  79,622,305  people.  Looking  forward  to  this 
result,  how  petty  and  despicable  do  those  legislators  appear,  who  do  not  act 
up  to  the  grand  future  !  And  is  it  not  true,  that  we*  need  statesmanship? 

Continuing  the  guess  process,  I  figured  up  the  population  of  the  United 
States  at  about  250,000,000  in  1950.  That  number  will  not  be  realized,  but  I 
think  the  child  is  born  who  may  see  a  population  of  200,000,000.  Then  will 
come  the  test  hopefully  regarded  in  the  old  Real  Estate  Register : 

"We  suppose  that,  with  the  improved  means  of  transit  and  correspon 
dence  to  be  expected  as  the  nation  grows  older,  such  an  empire  might  be 
governed  under  our  present  constitution  with  the  same  ease  that  the  Em 
peror  Nicholas  rules  a  population  of  one-fifth  the  sum." 


266  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

As  railroads  and  telegraphs  were  yet  new  in  1850,  and  we  were  just  begin 
ning  to  use  self-sealing  envelopes,  and  had  not  yet  attained  to  postage 
stamps,  if  I  recollect  aright,  the  reader  will  see  that  I  was  not  wrong  in 
looking  forward  to  "  improved  means  of  transit  and  correspondence." 

Our  large  map  of  St.  Louis  as  projected  by  Mr.  Lefflngwell,  was  published 
in  1850.  On  a  manuscript  map  in  the  office  he  drew  a  line  for  what  he 
called  a  "Boulevard,"  to  start  at  the  upper  end  of  the  city  and  extend  to 
its  lower  end.  It  was  to  be  120  feet  wide.  Jesse  G.  Lindell  brought  in  a 
plat  of  his  property  near  the  present  Fair  Grounds,  with  the  "  Boulevard  " 
marked  on  it,  and  we  then  named  it  Lindell  Avenue.  The  County  Court 
adopted  the  idea,  but  reduced  the  street  to  80  feet  in  width,  and  it  got  the 
name  of  Grand  Avenue.  "It  will  be  the  greatest  street  in  America  some 
day,"  Mr.  Lefflngwell  used  to  prophesy,  when  it  was  first  projected,  with 
its  width  of  120  feet. 

I  have  in  another  place  referred  to  the  service  done  to  St.  Louis  by  Mr. 
Leffingwell  and  myself  in  laying  out  Stoddard  Addition ;  but  in  his  grand 
est  work  I  had  no  part.  He  was  the  father  of  Forest  Park.  He  not  only 
projected  the  park  of  1,300  acres,  but  labored  long  and  effectively  to  get  it 
established ;  and  but  for  him  it  would  not  exist.  This  immense  service  to 
the  present  and  the  future,  has  never  been  adequately  recognized  by  the 
community.  The  people  enjoy  the  Park,  and  brag  of  it  to  strangers.  The 
originator  and  creator  of  it  may  solace  his  old  age  by  reflections  on  his  good 
works  for  the  public. 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEABS.  267 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

SCIENTIFIC  COPPER  WORKS — STANTON  MINE  —  FORTUNE  IN  HARDWOOD  LUM 
BER —  A  FRENCH  CASTLE  IN  SPAIN  —  PROJECTED  SCHOOL  OF  MINERS  — 
GROUND  BROKEN  FOR  PACIFIC  RAILROAD,  JULY  4,  1851— FINANCIAL  BEGIN 
NING — O'FALLON,  LUCAS  AND  PAGE — ATLANTIC  AND  PACIFIC  RAILROAD — 

HANNIBAL  AND  ST.  JOSEPH  —  ALTON  AND  CHICAGO,  ETC. — FIRST  TICKET 
OFFICE  IN  ST.  LOUIS — QUICK  TIME  TO  NEW  YORK  —  OLD  NORTH  MISSOURI 
—  PUBLIC  BENEFACTORS  —  FAIR  HANDS  HOLD  THE  SPADE  AT  MACON  — 
EVERYBODY  PART  OWNER  —  NO  SYNDICATES  IN  OLD  TIMES. 

Two  scientific  gentlemen  of  St.  Louis,  together  with  a  practical  smelter, 
had  in  1849  gone  into  the  business  of  making  copper  in  the  southern  skirt  of 
Franklin  county,  Missouri,  at  Gallagher's  mill,  where  in  early  days  John 
Stanton  made  gunpowder  from  the  nitrous  earth  found  in  the  large  caves 
of  that  region;  the  habitations  of  numberless  bats  for  unknown  years. 
Archibald  Gamble  and  Edward  Bredell  had  a  copper  furnace  at  work  in 
the  neighborhood,  but  the  two  gentlemen  of  high  science  disdained  a  blast 
furnace.  They  would  have  a  reverberatory ,  and  their  ores  should  be  so  pre 
pared  and  mixed  with  fluxes  that  the  copper  would  come  out  absolutely 
pure.  On  the  first  trial  the  furnace  chilled,  but  the  smelter  accounted  for 
the  mishap  by  the  fact  that  the  wind  had  changed  to  the  north ;  and  experi 
enced  furnace  men  will  appreciate  the  situation.  The  wisdom  of  the  enter 
prise  will  be  fully  comprehended  by  experienced  miners,  when  they  learn 
that  the  projectors  did  not  intend  to  do  any  mining,  but  expected  the  farm 
ers  to  dig  up  copper  ores  and  haul  them  to  the  furnace,  as  used  to  be  done 
with  lead  '  mineral '  in  Missouri. 

To  make  a  fortune,  I  joined  the  adventurers,  and  some  others  joined. 
We  in  course  of  time  built  a  new  furnace  like  that  of  'Gamble  and  Bredell 
(who  had  given  up  copper  making  about  the  time  we  had  fairly  begun), 
and  we  opened  the  Stanton  Copper  Mine,  described  in  the  state  Geological 
Survey.  We  made  some  thirty  thousand  dollars  worth  of  very  good  copper ; 
had  a  steam  pump  at  the  mine,  and  spent  money  enough  in  half  a  dozen 
years  to  merit  success. 

Dr.  John  Laugh  ton  was  interested  with  us  at  first,  and  after  a  few 
months  he  would  come  into  the  office  in  St.  Louis  to  see  how  things  were 
going  on. 


268  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  TEARS. 

"  I  want  to  see  a  dividend, "  he  would  say— "  Gar,— I  want  to  see  a  divi 
dend  !  Everything  going  out,  and  nothing  coming  in  !  Gar, — I  want  to  see 
a  dividend!" 

But  he  never  saw  it,  nor  did  any  of  us ;  and  we  did  not  even  prove  the 
mine  worthless.  We  left  a  distinct  vein  or  lode  '  going  down,'  and  if  the 
water  charges  do  not  prove  too  great,  the  old  mine  may  possibly  yet  be 
worked  for  copper.  When  the  money  had  all  run  out,  and  the  mine  had 
stopped,  we  were  just  beginning  to  know  (like  many  others  who  have  gone 
a-mining)  a  great  many  things  that  we  ought  to  have  known  before  we 
began;  but  there  were  no  books  to  teach  them,  and  they  could  only  be 
learned  in  the  school  of  experience.  So  far  as  I  was  concerned,  the  money 
and  time  spent  in  copper  mining  in  Missouri  were  not  entirely  lost,  as  the 
course  of  study  induced  aided  in  fitting  me  for  duties  of  much  usefulness 
on  the  western  plains,  to  which  destiny  called  me  fifteen  years  later. 

"  There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends,  rough- 
Hew  them  how  we  may !" 

A  young  lawyer  of  St.  Louis  had  an  industrial  inspiration,  and  leased  the 
Gallagher  mill,  which  had  a  splendid  water  power,  and  an  old  fashioned 
saw.  By  infallible  figures  the  two  scientific  gentlemen  had  proved  that 
there  was  an  immense  fortune  in  hardwood  lumber.  With  forests  full  of 
magnificent  oaks,  walnuts,  etc.,  all  he  had  to  do  was  to  keep  the  saw  run 
ning.  So  many  logs  were  good  for  so  many  feet  of  lumber,  board  measure, 
which  at  $ per  1,000  feet  would  amount  to  $ .  Quod  erat  demon 
strandum.  The  logs  came  in,  the  mill  cut  them  into  first  class  lumber,  and 
the  two  Doctors  congratulated  the  enterprising  young  man.  His  fortune 
was  sure.  But  alas !  as  George  Nuckolls  remarked  of  his  iron  furnace,  "  it 
is  hard  to  work  up  to  the  figures ! "  Maj.  Samuel  Simmons,  of  St.  Louis, 
will  vouch  that  the  saw-mill  venture  only  failed,  because  of  the  awkward 
fact,  discovered  too  late,  that  there  was  no  possible  market  for  the  product. 

While  in  search  of  fortune  in  the  copper  mine,  another  grand  vista  of 
wealth  opened.  John  Roques,  or  de  Roques,  an  old  farmer  of  Jefferson 
county,  Missouri,  believed  himself  heir  to  a  great  estate  in  France,  but  had 
no  money  to  prosecute  his  claim.  I  traded  some  wild  land  for  an  interest  in 
the  estate,  to  be  held  equally  by  Mr.  Leffingwell  and  myself;  and  for  a  share 
of  our  interest,  Henry  W.  Williams  (the  first  to  achieve  the  systematic  ex 
amination  of  land  titles  in  St.  Louis)  agreed  to  have  the  claim  established 
during  a  projected  visit  to  Europe.  Mr.  Williams  wrote  us  from  Paris  that 
the  estate  was  beyond  doubt  a  real  thing,  sure  enough,  three  million  francs, 
more  or  less,  or  near  about  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  and  that  John  de 
Roques  was  clearly  entitled  to  it,  if  he  could  get  it !  A  Parisian  lawyer  was 
of  opinion  that  his  chances  were  excellent. 

We  were  rich  at  last !  My  share  was  about  $75,000.  One-third  of  this  I 
at  once  devoted  in  imagination  to  entries  of  public  lands  for  the  support  of 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  269 

a  School  of  Mines,  and  the  rest  was  to  be  carefully  invested  for  personal 
income.  Nothing  could  have  resulted  more  happily ;  for  in  addition  to  the 
actual  cash  to  be  coming  in,  we  had  the  great  satisfaction  of  being  the  only 
men  who  had  ever  gone  in  search  of  an  estate  in  Europe  and  found  it  so 
soon  !  But  unfortunately  for  the  School  of  Mines  (which  the  State  of  Mis 
souri  has  since  established)  a  second  letter  from  Mr.  Williams  informed  us 
that  a  preposterous  Lieutenant  de  Roques,  of  a  collateral  branch  (a  miser 
able  frog-eating  Frenchman),  was  in  actual  possession  of  our  estate,  and 
wickedly  held  on  to  it,  in  contempt  of  all  claims  of  his  aged  relative  in  Jef 
ferson  county !  If  steps  to  secure  the  inheritance  had  been  taken  early 
enough,  our  John  de  Roques  would  probably  have  been  successful,  but  the 
time  for  action  had  expired  long  before  I  had  traded  eighty  acres  of  Mare- 
mac  hills  to  Amedee  Valle  for  a  share  of  it.  Henry  W.  Williams  is  still  the 
best  authority  on  land  titles  in  St.  Louis,  but  has  never  since  been  rich  on  a 
foreign  estate,  and  like  mysslf,  only  thinks  of  the  de  Roques  case  with  a  sad 
smile,  and  the  reflection  that  the  world  might  have  been  better  off  if  that 
French  Lieutenant  de  Roques  had  never  existed. 

Major  Williams  will  remember  a  gala  day  in  St.  Louis,  when  he  acted  as 
one  of  the  aids  of  Thornton  Grimsley,  Grand  Marshal  at  the  imposing  cere 
mony  of  breaking  ground  for  the  Pacific  Railroad.  In  the  absence  of  the 
Governor  of  the  State,  Thomas  Allen,  the  President  of  the  road,  made  the 
opening  speech,  and  presented  the  spade  to  Luther  M.  Kennett,  mayor  of 
the  City,  to  dig  THE  FIRST  EARTH  EVER  BROKEN  WEST  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI 
FOR  A  RAILROAD.  The  various  benevolent  societies  of  St.  Louis  and  a  large 
number  of  the  people  were  present.  Joseph  M.  Field  recited  a  spirited  and 
appropriate  poem ;  and  Edward  Bates  delivered  one  of  those  charming  ad 
dresses  that  it  seems  to  me  nobody  now-a-days  can  equal.  The  day  when 
this  first  ground  was  broken  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  of  industrial 
civilization  between  the  Mississippi  river  and  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  was 

July  4th,  Anno  Domini  1851, 

and  will  hereafter  be  recalled  as  one  of  the  historic  days  of  our  national 
career.  The  spot  where  that  first  ground  was  broken  ought  to  be  marked 
with  a  monument  for  all  time.  A  third  of  a  century  has  not  elapsed,  yet  a 
century's  work  has  been  done,  if  measured  by  results  as  compared  with  the 
achievements  of  mankind  before  the  days  of  railroads.  The  mind  cannot 
grasp  the  material  progress  west  of  the  Mississippi  since  July  4, 1851 ;  never 
equaled  or  approximated  since  Noah  landed  on  Ararat. 

Thomas  Allen  began  the  great  work,  by  procuring  the  act  of  incorpora 
tion  ;  and  when  the  corporators  of  the  Pacific  Railroad  were  first  called 
together,  John  O'Fallon,  James  H.  Lucas,  and  Daniel  D.  Page  each  sub 
scribed  for  $33,333.33J  of  the  stock,  making  $100,000.  The  subscriptions  are 
worthy  of  note  as  the  financial  beginning  of  railroad  building  west  of  the 
Mississippi. 

Among  the  early  stockholders  of  the  Missouri  Pacific  were  Mr.  Leffing- 


270  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEAKS. 

well  and  myself;  but  our  investment,  like  those  in  the  copper  mine  and 
the  French  estate,  left  only  a  memory  of  faded  hopes. 

It  may  not  seem  credible,  but  is  nevertheless  true,  that  railroads  were 
yet  so  new,  only  thirty-one  years  ago,  that  the  community  had  to  undergo 
a  course  of  elementary  instruction.  In  1852, 1  wrote  volunteer  editorials  for 
a  St.  Louis  paper,  giving  in  detail  the  reason  why  railroads  were  of  public 
benefit  and  ought  to  be  built !  Those  old  editorials  might  amuse  an  intelli 
gent  reader  now,  yet  they  were  sound  in  doctrine  and  pertinent  in  applica 
tion.  The  apparent  absurdity  is,  that  they  should  have  been  gravely  put 
forth ;  yet  they  were  then  needed  to  educate  the  public. 

Congress  having  granted  lands  in  aid  of  the  Missouri  Pacific  Railroad, 
the  Legislature  decided  that  the  main  line  should  run  by  Jefferson  City,  and 
that  a  branch  from  the  west  line  of  St.  Louis  county,  should  run  to  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  state;  to  which  branch  the  lands  were  given,  on 
condition  that  subscriptions  of  $500,000  stock,  applicable  to  the  branch, 
should  be  obtained.  In  1854  I  spent  several  weeks  in  the  counties  along  the 
line  of  the  Southwest  Branch,  making  speeches  to  get  county  subscriptions 
to  the  stock,  and  thus  secure  the  lauds  to  the  branch.  My  speeches  would 
read  well  now,  if  any  one  cared  to  study  the  philosophy  of  improved  trans 
porting  machinery,  but  the  well-informed  reader  would  think  I  took  a  great 
deal  of  trouble  to  tell  what  everybody  knows,  forgetting  that  they  did  not 
know  it  thirty  years  ago,  and  we  had  to  teach  them.  In  those  speeches  I 
insisted  that  the  Southwest  Branch  was  the  proper  line  to  be  extended  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  would  in  time  reach  it.  In  1866  Congress,  on  motion 
of  Senator  B.  Gratz  Brown,  granted  a  charter  and  lands  to  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  Railroad  Company,  to  build  a  road  from  Springfield,  Missouri,  by  way 
of  Albuquerque,  to  the  Pacific.  This  road  is  now  built  500  miles  west  from 
Albuquerque,  and  reaches  the  Pacific  by  a  junction  with  the  California 
Southern.  The  road  is  already  extended  a  long  distance  west  from  Spring 
field,  in  the  direction  of  Albuquerque,  and  my  speeches  of  1854  are  virtually 
changed  from  prophecy  to  history !  The  old  Southwest  Branch  is  now  the 
St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco  Railroad,  and  its  cars  run  through  to  the 
Pacific. 

Ground  was  broken  at  Hannibal  in  1852  for  the  Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph 
Railroad.  As  was  customary  in  that  day,  while  railroads  were  yet  novel 
ties,  a  large  body  of  the  people,  and  the  Governor  of  the  state,  participated 
in  the  ceremonies.  A  boat  load  of  St.  Louis  gentlemen  had  gone  up.  There 
was  a  barbecue,  and  we  had  patriotic  speeches  in  the  open  air.  Our  return 
on  the  steamboat  was  hilarious,  and  we  did  full  honor  to  the  interesting 
occasion. 

In  the  same  year  a  division  of  the  Alton  and  Chicago  railroad  in  Illinois 
was  completed,  from  Alton  to  Springfield.  The  Mayor,  Luther  M.  Kennett, 
and  the  City  Council  of  St.  Louis  were  invited  to  participate  in  the  "  open 
ing."  Mr.  Leffingwell,  Stephen  Ridgley,  and  a  few  other  citizens  decided 
to  go  on  the  boat  to  Alton,  and  try  to  get  on  the  railroad  by  paying  our  way ; 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  271 

bnt  the  Superintendent,  Edward  Keating,  on  learning  of  our  presence  at 
once  gracefully  adopted  us  as  his  guests.  At  Springfield  we  found  a  large 
freight  house  full  of  tables  with  refreshments,  solid  and  liquid,  and  Mayor 
Kennett  replied  in  a  most  felicitous  manner  to  the  compliments  paid  by  the 
welcoming  speaker  to  St.  Louis  and  to  the  "  invited  guests."  Hardly  had 
the  applause  following  Mr.  Kennett's  speech  subsided,  when  one  of  our 
volunteer  party  arose  and  expressed  a  wish  "  to  make  a  few  remarks  on  be 
half  of  the  uninvited  guests  !  "  This  created  much  merriment,  and  the  self- 
selected  orator,  then  well  posted  on  all  industrial  interests  of  Illinois  and 
Missouri,  and  inspired  by  the  occasion,  made  a  capital  speech,  which  was 
received  in  the  most  flattering  manner.  In  that  age,  journeys  on  horseback 
had  not  been  given  up,  and  his  comparison  of  the  two  states  to  a  pair  of  sad 
dle-bags,  the  Illinois  end  stuffed  with  coal  and  the  Missouri  end  with  iron, 
"elicited  thunders  of  applause,"  as  the  newspapers  said.  His  prediction 
of  the  union  of  these  minerals  for  the  benefit  of  mankind  has  long  since  been 
verified. 

The  Alton  and  Chicago  road  was  the  first  to  run  cars  from  the  Mississippi 
river.  In  a  year  or  two  it  reached  Chicago,  and  we  thought  the  time  from 
St.  Louis  to  New  York  wonderfully  shortened,  after  Maj.  B.  F.  Fifield  had 
opened  in  St.  Louis,  in  1852,  the  first  office  west  of  the  Mississippi  for  the 
sale  of  tickets.  Major  Fred.  M.  Colburn,  who  began  as  Maj.  Fifield's  assist 
ant,  is  in  the  business  yet ;  but  it  has  grown  to  proportions  never  dreamed 
of  when  he  first  began  to  explain  routes  by  rail  and  lake.  From  St.  Louis 
to*New  York  in  less  than  a  week  !  That  was  progress. 

The  Chicago  and  Galena  railroad  was  the  first  to  reach  the  Mississippi 
from  the  east,  and  astonished  everybody  by  the  amount  of  business  done. 
It  aided  greatly  in  the  rapid  settlement  of  Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  Western 
Wisconsin,  and  gave  an  impulse  to  the  peopling  of  the  great  Northwest  that 
has  been  growing  in  force  ever  since,  until  now  we  are  not  surprised  by 
events  that  no  sane  man  would  have  dared  to  predict  only  thirty  years  ago. 

The  North  Missouri  railroad  was  opened  from  St.  Louis  to  St.  Charles  in 
1854,  and  we  had,  of  course,  a  jollification  in  the  ancient  city  on  the  Missouri 
river.  The  short  line  we  then  rejoiced  over  has  grown  till  it  now  connects 
at  Kansas  City  with  two  lines  to  the  Pacific ;  at  Omaha  with  another  ;  and 
by  its  Iowa  extension  with  a  fourth  continental  road,  the  Northern  Pacific. 
It  is  the  western  division  of  the  Wabash,  St.  Louis  and  Pacific.  In  our 
merry  meeting  at  St.  Charles,  to  honor  the  infant's  birth,  we  had  no  ade 
quate  idea  of  the  giant  it  was  to  become.  All  the  greater  is  the  debt  to  those 
who  nursed  and  fostered  it.  The  services  of  Rollins,  Sturgeon,  Bates,  and 
other  gentlemen  to  the  state  of  Missouri,  in  the  early  days  of  the  "  North 
Missouri,"  deserve  to  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance ;  but  we  move  too 
rapidly  to  carry  with  us  the  memory  of  our  public  benefactors.  Their  con 
sciousness  of  duty  performed  must  be  their  solace. 

A  railroad  ceremony  now-a-days — the  last  spike  in  a  continental  line,  for 
example— is  an  advertisement.  The  world  is  to  know  that  Mr.  Villard's 


272  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

road  is  ready  for  its  dollars.  But  in  our  old  time  jollifications  the  sordid 
element  had  no  place.  We  were  simply  rejoicing  in  the  progress  of  art  and 
science.  I  have  but  one  regret  as  I  look  back :  as  a  rule,  we  neglected  to 
have  the  better  sex  present.  I  only  remember  one  occasion,  at  Hermann, 
Missouri,  with  ladies  gracing  the  feast.  I  only  know  of  one  occasion,  when 
fair  hands  moved  the  first  earth,  in  beginning  a  new  line.  This  was  at 
Macon,  Missouri.  An  estimable  St.  Louis  lady,  Mrs.  Isaac  H.  Sturgeon, 
honored  the  enterprise  by  her  presence,  and  with  spade  in  hand,  broke 
ground  for  the  old  North  Missouri  extension  to  Iowa. 

The  present  generation  can  hardly  comprehend  our  interests  in  railroads 
thirty  years  ago.  Everybody,  either  as  stockholder,  or  as  taxpayer  on 
county  and  other  bonds,  had  a  share  in  the  burden  of  construction,  and  felt 
himself  in  reality  a  part  owner.  There  were  no  strong  corporations  then  to 
build  new  lines  as  feeders  or  branches ;  no  syndicates,  or  Vanderbilts,  or 
Goulds.  If  any  class  of  our  people  entertain  any  fear  of  railroad  magnates, 
or  powerful  corporations,  we  have  at  least  the  consolation  of  knowing  that 
the  granting  of  town,  county  or  state  bonds,  in  aid  of  railroad  construction, 
is  well  nigh  done  with  forever. 

As  to  inter-state  commerce,  and  fixing  rates  of  freight  on  railroads  by 
act  of  Congress,  let  us  have  no  discriminations.  If  the  growth  of  the 
country,  since  1787,  in  area,  population,  morals,  education,  science  and  art, 
has  had  the  curious  effect  of  enlarging  the  powers  delegated  to  the  federal 
national  government,  as  well  as  expanding  the  field  of  their  application,  let 
us  all  have  a  chance — the  shorts  as  well  as  the  longs.  I  can  assure  Brother 
Reagan  that  the  price  of  coal  is,  at  times,  intolerably  high  in  St.  Louis ; 
and  if— under  the  power  granted  "to  regulate  commerce  *  *  among  the 
several  States  " — Congress  can  fix  the  railroad  freights  on  cotton  from  Texas 
to  St.  Louis,  which  requires  a  long  haul,  why  cannot  the  rates  on  coal  from 
the  Illinois  mine  be  more  easily  regulated,  as  the  haul  is  so  much  shorter  ? 
Whether  on  cars  or  wagons,  crossing  the  river  on  the  big  bridge,  or  on  the 
ferries,  the  case  requires  attention.  Are  not  Illinois  and  Missouri  "  several 
states,"  and  big  ones,  too?  Are  not  our  imports  of  coal  "commerce,"  and 
essential  to  comfort?  Are  not  wagonmen  and  ferrymen  very  common  car 
riers;  coeval  (except  as  regards  steam)  with  the  constitution?  And,  al 
though  the  bridge  is  rather  an  uncommon  structure,  are  not  the  owners  of 
the  coal-cars  common  carriers,  engaged  in  commerce  among  the  several 
states?  Hamilton,  Madison,  Jay,  and  the  other  old  codgers — if  they  could 
re- visit  us— might  scorn  the  suggestion ;  but  while  Congress  has  its  hand 
in,  could  it  not,  in  some  way,  lower  the  price  of  axle-grease,  so  as  to  reduce 
the  coal. wagon  rates?  The  Transfer  Company ,  too— if  Brother  Tan  sey  chooses 
to  indulge  in  inter-state  commerce — why  is  it  to  be  left  out  ?  And  the  steam 
boats,  barges,  rafts  and  skiffs— are  they  to  be  slighted  ?  No,  no.  Let  us 
have  no  invidious  distinctions.  Let  all  the  transporting  machinery  have 
the  tender  and  beneficent  care  of  the  wise  men  in  the  capitol. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  273 


CHAPTER    XL. 

PILGRIMS  TO  CAHOKIA  CREEK  —  CHINESE  POLICY  IN  ILLINOIS  —  OHIO  AND 
MISSISSIPPI  RAILROAD — CELEBRATION  AT  VINCENNES — PAGE  AND  BACON 
—  GOOD  WORKS  IN  ST.  LOUIS  AND  CALIFORNIA  —  GASCONADE  CATAS 
TROPHE —  PERSONAL  IMPRESSIONS — WONDERFUL  ESCAPE  OF  HUDSON  E. 
BRIDGE — A  RECORD  OF  EXCELLENCE — DANIEL  R.  GARRISON  CHANGES 
THE  GAUGE  —  NO  MORE  SIX  FOOT-TRACKS  —  TEXAS  AND  ST.  LOUIS  THREE- 
FOOT  ROAD  —  COMPLIMENT  TO  COL.  PARAMORE  —  BOTANICAL  GARDEN  — 
PARK  —  HENRY  SHAW. 

It  was  in  1851,  August  or  September,  if  I  recollect  rightly,  that  a  party 
of  gentlemen  were  ferried  over  the  river  from  St.  Louis,  and  in  the  sylvan 
shades  about  Cahokia  Creek  met  two  way-worn  but  cheerful  pilgrims,  who 
had  on  horseback  crossed  the  State  of  Illinois  from  the  classic  shores  of  the 
Wabash,  where  the  old  Harrison  mansion,  dear  to  memory  as  once  the  resi 
dence  of  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe,  was  yet  standing  in  the  city  of  Vincennes. 
These  pilgrims  were  volunteers  on  a  mission  of  public  interest.  They  had 
believed  that  but  few  physical  obstacles  existed  to  prevent  the  easy  build 
ing  of  a  railroad  from  Vincennes  to  St.  Louis,  and  had  made  the  toilsome 
journey  over  the  prairies,  then  but  sparsely  settled,  to  find  confirmation  of 
their  belief.  They  knew  that  the  line  between  Vincennes  and  Cincinnati 
was  difficult  but  not  impracticable,  and  if  they  could  report  an  easy  route 
from  Vincennes  to  St.  Louis,  that  fact  would  encourage  the  builders  of  the 
Cincinnati  line,  by  presenting  the  prospect  of  an  early  extension  to  the  Mis 
sissippi.  They  also  wished  to  confer  with  the  leading  and  solid  men  of  St. 
Louis  in  regard  to  ways  and  means  of  building  the  road. 

There  was  another  important  matter :  permission  to  cross  Illinois  with  a 
railroad.  That  Commonwealth  had  then  a  "state  policy,"  which  meant 
that  railroads  should  be  so  arranged  as  to  build  up  cities  within  her  own 
borders.  Easy  to  get  a  charter  to  build  a  railroad  terminating  at  Alton,  for 
example;  but  a  road  to  terminate  opposite  St.  Louis,  and  thus  of  necessity 
help  to  build  up  a,  foreign  city — that  was  quite  another  matter. 

Conforming  to  the  customs  of  the  time,  we  met  the  pilgrims  with  ice 
water  and  other  refreshments  for  travel-worn  men,  and  we  had  toasts  and 


274  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

speeches  under  the  trees.  Their  exploring  journey  had  a  blaze  of  enthusi 
asm  at  the  end  of  it,  and  as  some  wind-work  used  to  be  essential  to  the  start 
ing  of  any  important  enterprise,  they  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  a 
goodly  share  of  it  was  done  on  that  happy  occasion.  The  scene  is  but  dim 
in  memory  now,  but  I  would  rather  have  a  true  picture  of  that  reception  of 
the  pilgrims  in  the  kindly  umbrage  of  the  Cahokia  trees  (even  without  the 
toasts  and  speeches)  than  a  dozen  full-length  pictures  of  William  Penn  in 
his  grand  historical  act  of  purchasing  the  empire  of  Pennsylvania  from  the 
Indians,  at  his  own  figure,  free  of  all  competition. 

The  two  pilgrims  were  Judge  Abner  T.  Ellis,  of  Vincennes,  and  Prof.  O. 
M.  Mitchell,  of  Cincinnati,  and  their  reception  on  the  other  side  of  the  river 
was  the  first  public  meeting,  so  far  as  I  can  recollect,  ever  held  to  aid  in 
starting  the  line  of  rails  across  Illinois  now  known  as  the  Ohio  and  Mis 
sissippi  Railroad.  I  note  the  pilgrimage  of  these  intelligent  and  excellent 
gentlemen  as  an  interesting  incident  in  the  early  history  of  railroad  build 
ing,  and  to  put  on  record  for  their  descendants  the  fact  that  they  were  the 
first  to  take  practical  steps  towards  the  building  of  the  road. 

The  people  of  Illinois  soon  gave  up  their  restrictive  policy,  laid  aside 
their  Chinese  pigtails  and  were  ready  to  let  anybody  build  railroads  who 
had  the  money  to  do  it,  let  them  terminate  where  they  might.  A  charter 
was  granted  to  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Railroad,  work  was  begun  and  St. 
Louis  had  to  help.  At  the  suggestion  of  Isaac  H.  Sturgeon  the  City  Council 
subscribed  $500,000  to  the  stock  of  the  company,  and  there  were  also  many 
large  private  subscriptions.  Soon  after  the  city  subscription  Mr.  Sturgeon, 
then  a  State  Senator,  effected  the  passage  of  an  act  of  the  Legislature  author 
izing  the  county  of  St.  Louis  to  subscribe  $200,000.  We  all  thus  aided  to 
begin  work  on  what  we  very  properly  thought  would  be  a  great  road,  with 
its  gauge  of  six  feet,  and  leading  to  the  opulent  East. 

During  the  construction  of  the  line  the  banking-house  of  Page  &  Bacon, 
having  advanced  heavily  to  the  company,  found  themselves  obliged  to  carry 
the  entire  load,  but,  with  wonderful  fortitude  and  perseverance  under  calami 
tous  circumstances,  they  continued  the  work,  completing  the  track  to  the 
Wabash.  The  completion  was  celebrated  by  an  excursion  from  St.  Louis  to 
Vincennes,  July  4,  1855.  Again  we  had  toasts  and  speeches,  but  on  the 
shores  of  the  Wabash,  and  not  on  those  of  Cahokia  Creek,  which  we  had  left 
150  miles  behind  us.  It  was  a  grand  occasion,  not  only  as  noting  a  great 
achievement  against  adverse  influences,  but  as  the  inauguration  of  an  East 
ern  outlet  by  rail  for  St.  Louis. 

In  this  grand  work  of  connecting  St.  Louis  directly  with  the  eastern  rail 
road  system,  one  figure  was  conspicuous  beyond  all  others — Henry  D.  Bacon. 
With  the  co-operation  of  Daniel  D.  Page  (one  of  the  best  citizens  St.  Louis 
ever  had,  and  whose  memory  is  held  in  honor),  and  of  Thomas  Brown,  now 
cashier  of  the  Bank  of  California,  Mr.  Bacon  managed  the  financial  con 
cerns  of  the  railroad  company,  giving  his  great  abilities  to  the  work,  inspir- 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  275 

ing  all  with  confidence,  and  by  his  energy,  faith  and  labor  compelling 
success. 

Another  very  prominent  figure  was  Daniel  R.  Garrison,  who,  in  addition 
to  other  helpful  work,  devoted  his  personal  energies  " in  the  field"  to  the 
duty  of  getting  the  ties  and  rails  in  place,  and  making  all  things  ready  for 
the  actual  opening  of  the  line  for  business.  The  services  of  Mr.  Garrison 
were  never  appreciated  by  the  public,  for  whose  interests  he  labored  so  effi 
ciently,  and,  like  the  services  of  Mr.  Page,  Mr.  Bacon  and  Mr.  Brown,  prob 
ably  never  will  be.  The  world  can't  pause  to  think  of  men  who  acted  a 
good  part  nearly  thirty  years  ago. 

The  good  works  of  Henry  D.  Bacon  for  St.  Louis  were  not  limited  to  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  Railroad.  A  church  edifice  costing  $72,000  and  a  large 
subscription  to  the  Mercantile  Library  Hall,  essential  to  its  construction, 
were  among  his  benefactions.  But  these  things  are  known  only  to  a  few  old 
stagers.  To  the  present  people  of  St.  Louis,  Page  and  Bacon  are  almost  as 
unknown  as  if  they  had  never  existed.  For  a  score  of  years  past  the  home 
of  Mr.  Bacon  has  been  on  the  Pacific  side,  and  there,  as  here,  he  seems  to 
have  lived  for  the  general  good.  In  August,  1881,  "The  Bacon  Art  and 
Library  Building  "  was  dedicated  as  part  of  the  University  of  California, 
Mr.  Bacon  having  contributed  a  large  sum  to  the  edifice,  and  also  presented 
to  the  university  his  choice  collection  of  works  of  art,  sculptures  and  paint 
ings,  and  a  library  of  several  thousand  volumes,  comprising  standard  and 
miscellaneous  works  of  high  class.  This  Art  Hall  in  California  will  pre 
serve  the  name  of  this  eminent  citizen.  He  ranks  with  the  other  men  of 
grand  ideas  whose  acts  had  made  the  history  of  California  illustrious  before 
she  had  completed  her  third  decade. 

The  principal  orator  at  our  celebration  in  Vincennes  was  Edward  Bates. 
His  statue  is  in  Forest  Park,  placed  there  by  personal  friends ;  but  soon, 
when  the  visitor  is  told  that  is  the  statue  of  Mr.  Bates,  he  will  say  :  "  Bates ! 
Who  was  he?"  But  Edward  Bates  did  not  work  for  immortality.  Only  for 
the  welfare  of  all  around  him,  and  for  his  country.  The  growing  generation 
are  fortunate,  perhaps,  in  never  having  heard  any  of  his  speeches,  as  they 
can  all  the  better  enjoy  those  they  are  likely  to  hear  as  time  rolls  on.  John 
Hogan  and  Edward  Wyman,  both  of  whom  had  rendered  efficient  service 
to  the  enterprise,  also  enlivened  us  with  the  flashes  of  wit  and  humor,  and 
the  booms  of  solid  wisdom  that  we  used  to  enjoy  in  the  old-time  speeches, 
when  we  were  not  quite  past  the  day  of  oral  instruction  to  crowds,  and 
speeches  were  worth  listening  to.  The  press  is  destroying  popular  oratory, 
as  it  is  so  hard  for  a  speaker,  winning  as  his  manner  may  be,  to  say  any 
thing  new. 

Another  railroad  of  much  interest  to  St.  Louis,  had  an  opening  celebra 
tion  in  1855,  not  ending  as  happily  as  that  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi.  A 
division  of  the  Pacific  Railroad  from  Hermann  to  Jefferson  City  was  sup 
posed  to  be  ready  for  trains,  and  a  grand  celebration  was  to  take  place  at 
the  capital,  November  1.  A  train  of  thirteen  cars  with  a  large  party  of  the 


276  NOTES  TAKEN  IN    SIXTY   YEARS. 

business  men  of  St.  Louis,  and  drawn  by  a  locomotive  built  in  St.  Louis  by 
Wm.  Palm,  had  reached  Gasconade  River,  where  the  trestle  work  intended 
for  temporary  use  till  the  bridge  could  be  completed,  broke  down,  and  more 
than  half  the  train  was  hurled  to  the  sloping  bank  of  the  stream,  between 
the  abutment  and  the  first  pier.  I  was  in  the  middle  car,  seventh  from 
front  and  rear.  The  train  was  going  at  the  rate  of  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  an 
hour.  There  was  a  bump,  a  check  to  the  motion,  an  exclamation  from  some 
one  near — "  We're  gone !  "  And  then  a  thought  flashed  through  my  mind, 
"  How  queer,  after  travelling  so  many  thousand  miles,  that  I  should  at  last 
be  killed  on  an  excursion  !  "  Then  a  thought  of  those  dear  to  me  left  with 
out  their  protector,  and  then  a  shudder  lest  some  broken  Learn  or  splinter 
should  mangle  or  torture  me.  But,  though  death  was  present,  perhaps  cer 
tain,  there  was  110  fear  of  it,  nor  any  of  that  inconceivably  rapid  review  of 
past  life  said  to  present  itself  to  the  minds  of  persons  drowning  or  being 
hanged,  and  I  have  since  believed  that  dying  is  not  the  painful  and  dis 
tressing  process  we  are  apt  to  suppose  it  to  be.  The  next  thought  was  of 
water,  suggested  by  the  fizzing  of  the  locomotive,  which  had  reached  to  the 
first  pier  and  fallen  in  the  edge  of  the  stream ;  but  a  glance  through  the 
window  rested  on  land.  The  flashes  of  thought  I  have  noted  must  have 
been  instantaneous..  Except  the  fizzing  of  the  engine,  there  was  a  moment 
of  dead  silence,  save  the  patter  of  the  rain  on  the  roof  of  the  car,  and  then 
cries  and  groans  to  rend  the  heart. 

The  car  I  was  in  had  gone  down  after  passing  the  abutment,  and  rested 
sloping  to  the  left  side  on  dry  ground  ;  and  another  car  lapped  on  the  front 
half  of  ours,  crushing  to  death  fourteen  persons,  Dr.  Bullard,  Mr.  Dayton, 
and  others  of  the  best  citizens  of  St.  Louis  among  the  number.  I  had  in  the 
earlier  part  of  the  day  occupied  a  seat  forward  of  the  middle  of  the  car,  and 
relinquished  it  to  a  friend  who  came  on  at  Washington,  Elisha  B.  Jeffries^ 
who  was  killed.  My  politeness  led  to  his  death.  Hudson  E.  Bridge,  then 
president  of  the  road,  was  on  the  locomotive,  as  was  also  Thos.  S.  O'Sulli- 
van,  the  chief  engineer,  who  had  succeded  James  P.  Kirkwood  in  that 
office.  Mr.  O'Sullivan  was  crushed  beneath  the  locomotive;  but  Mr. 
Bridge  escaped.  Thirty-one  persons  in  all  were  killed  and  a  great  many 
wounded. 

Having  given  large  financial  aid  to  the  railroad,  Mr.  Bridge  was  much 
elated  with  the  completion  of  the  track  to  Jefferson  City,  and  being -assured 
by  the  Chief  Engineer  that  the  trestle  was  entirely  safe,  had  taken  position 
on  the  locomotive  to  cross  the  Gasconade  river.  The  engine  tumbled  back 
wards  from  the  pier,  and  fell  at  least  thirty  feet.  His  preservation  from 
death  was  not  less  fortunate  for  St.  Louis  and  Missouri,  than  it  was  won 
derful  in  itself.  It  prolonged  for  twenty  years  his  eminent  usefulness.  The 
name  of  Hudson  E.  Bridge  has  been  read  for  nearly  fifty  years  on  more  than 
a  million  stoves  (which  he  was  the  first  to  make  on  the  bank  of  the  Mis 
sissippi),  but  comparatively  few  of  those  who  are  familiar  with  it,  had  the 
good  fortune  to  know  the  man — his  refined  taste,  kindly  manners,  public 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  277 

spirit,  liberality,  intelligence,  and  sterling  integrity.  Having  known  him 
for  the  last  thirty  years  of  his  life,  my  tribute  to  his  memory  is  but  the  due 
of  exalted  worth.  He  has  left  to  his  descendants  a  record  of  excellence  in  all 
things.  The  modest  foundry  of  1837  has  grown  into  the  great  establishment 
of  the  Bridge  and  Beach  Manufacturing  Company  of  St.  Louis,  but  with  all 
its  extensive  operations,  its  far-reaching  trade,  and  its  merited  prosperity, 
it  can  achieve  no  higher  honor  than  to  transmit  unsullied  to  its  successors 
the  name  of  its  founder. 

After  the  crash,  the  first  thing  I  did  was  to  join  others  in  trying  to  lift 
the  roof  of  the  car,  in  order  to  relieve  those  yet  alive  in  the  front  end  of  it. 
The  absurdity  of  our  efforts,  with  another  car  resting  diagonally  across 
ours,  did  not  suggest  itself.  There  was  only  a  sad  feeling  that  we  could  for 
the  time  do  nothing.  Soon  those  of  us  unhurt  got  out  through  the  windows. 
Strong  arms  were  already  at  work  to  relieve  the  wounded,  but  many  men 
were  moving  about  with  dazed  looks,  as  if  bereft  of  their  senses.  Ten  cars 
had  gone  down,  but  the  last  three  remained  on  the  track,  and  many  of  their 
uninjured  occupants  at  once  devoted  themselves  to  the  sufferers.  The 
shanties  near  were  soon  filled  with  men  in  agony,  to  some  of  whom  death 
came  as  a  relief.  Judge  Samuel  Treat  was  requested  to  take  command,  and 
soon  brought  about  some  degree  of  order.  To  Capt.  George  W.  West  was 
assigned  the  duty  of  getting  from  the  wreck  of  the  baggage  car  whatever 
eatables  could  be  rescued,  and  also  stimulants  for  the  wounded. 

The  storm,  which  had  begun  with  a  drizzling  rain  early  in  the  day, 
seemed  to  have  reserved  its  fury  for  the  catastrophe.  Fierce  blasts  of 
wind  and  heavy  dashes  of  rain,  with  lightning  and  thunder,  added  to  the 
horrors  of  the  scene,  as  darkness  came  on ;  and  imagination  can  scarcely 
picture  a  night  more  wretched  than  that  of  November  1,  1855,  at  the  Gas 
conade  river. 

Next  day  the  dead  and  wounded  were  all  put  on  a  train  of  flat  and  box 
cars,  and  started  towards  St.  Louis.  The  temporary  bridge  at  Boauf  Creek 
was  considered  unsafe,  and  the  cars  were  pushed  down  by  the  engine  to  be 
crossed  by  hand.  As  the  first  car,  with  several  wounded  men  in  it,  was 
about  to  go  on  the  bridge,  the  flooded  stream  swept  the  insecure  structure 
away.  The  train  then  went  back  to  Miller's  Landing,  to  wait  for  a  boat. 
Another  night  of  wretchedness,  during  which  thirty-one  rough  coffins  were 
made,  and  the  bodies  of  the  dead  put  in  them.  In  the  forenoon  of  Novem 
ber  3d,  a  ferry-boat  from  Washington  arrived,  the  dead  and  wounded  were 
put  on  board,  and,  together  with  the  uninjured,  soon  reached  Washington, 
and  there  took  cars  for  St.  Louis.  When  the  history  of  remarkable  rail 
road  accidents  shall  be  written,  the  Gasconade  disaster  will  have  a  place 
in  it. 

The  Pacific  Railroad  did  not  reach  the  west  line  of  the  State  till  1865.  On 
the  western  stretch  of  the  road  the  same  abilities  and  energies  which  had  in 
1855  been  effectively  exerted  to  push  through  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Bail- 
road  were  by  some  strange  good  fortune  enlisted  on  behalf  of  the  Missouri 


278  NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

Pacific.  Daniel  R.  Garrison,  in  the  midst  of  difficulties  and  of  the  actual 
perils  of  a  state  of  war  which  in  these  peaceful  days  can  hardly  be  imagined, 
completed  the  road  to  Kansas  city.  A  few  years  later  Mr.  Garrison  sur 
mounted  a  great  difficulty  in  a  way  entirely  original.  The  gauge  of  the 
Missouri  Pacific  was  five  and  a  half  feet,  and  the  question  was,  how  to 
change  it  without  stopping  the  business  of  the  road  ? 

Columbus  set  the  egg  on  end,  and  then  everybody  knew  how  to  do  it. 
Mr.  Garrison's  plan  was  so  simple  that  we  all  wondered  why  we  had  not 
thought  of  it  before.  He  changed  the  entire  line  and  had  it  ready  for  the 
cars  in  twelve  hours!  Men  were  placed  on  the  track,  from  end  to  end.  to 
drive  the  inner  row  of  spikes  for  the  new  gauge  (one  rail  to  be  left  undis 
turbed),  and  then  early  one  morning  the  old  inner  spikes  were  drawn,  simul 
taneously  almost,  along  the  whole  line — the  rail  was  moved  over  and  spiked 
in  place !  It  was  done  on  the  sixteenth  of  July,  but  the  act  was  worthy  of 
the  Fourth.  Engines  and  cars  of  the  proper  gauge  having  been  provided, 
the  road  was  again  in  operation  with  the  loss  of  less  than  a  day.  Two  hun 
dred  and  eighty-three  miles  of  track  had  been  reduced  from  a  gauge  of  five 
feet  six  inches  to  the  standard  gauge  of  four  feet  eight  and  a  half  inches. 

I  recollect  no  business  man  of  St.  Louis  as  opposed  to  the  old  gauge,  ex 
cept  myself.  I  held  that  George  Stephenson's  gauge  would  do  all  the  busi 
ness,  and  that  a  wider  track  was  only  useless  outlay  in  construction  and 
operation.  Denounced  as  an  old  fogy,  I  held  on,  and  time  proved  me  right. 
Curiously  enough,  the  five  feet  six  inch  gauge  had  been  adopted  on  the 
theory  that  no  bridge  would  ever  cross  the  Mississippi,  and  that  we  could, 
have  a  gauge  of  our  own  !  This  only  a  third  of  a  century  ago. 

Subsequently  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  track,  originally  six  feet,  was 
changed  in  a  day  to  the  standard  gauge.  "Old  Dan"  (as  we  call  him, 
through  regard  rather  than  irreverence,  and  because  there  is  another 
"Dan,"  his  nephew),  had  shown  how  the  thing  could  be  done.  Brunei 
built  the  Great  Western  from  London  to  Bristol  with  seven  feet  gauge. 
The  New  York  and  Erie  and  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  tried  six  feet,  but  no 
one  now  wants  a  wider  track  than  the  standard,  and  thousands  of  miles  of 
three-foot  gauge  are  already  built.  So  we  are  learning.  Ask  Gen.  W.  J. 
Palmer  or  Gov.  A.  C.  Hunt,  of  the  Denver  and  Bio  Grande,  or  Col.  J.  W. 
Paramore,  of  the  Texas  and  St.  Louis  road,  heading  for  Laredo.  Eads  will, 
I  suppose,  have  a  gauge  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  for  his  Tehuantepec 
Ship  Railroad,  but  he  wiU  have  more  than  two  rails,  and  when  his  road  is 
built  and  transporting  4,000-ton  ships  from  sea  to  sea,  we  will  all  again 
think  of  Columbus  and  the  egg. 

From  the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi  River  opposite  the  Ohio,  the 
Texas  and  St.  Louis  railroad  extends  through  Missouri  and  Arkansas  into 
Texas,  a  distance  of  seven  hundred  miles,  with  a  gauge  of  three  feet.  With 
only  $12,000  a  mile  of  bonded  debt,  Col.  Paramore,  its  President,  claims  that 
this  road  will  be  able  to  carry  goods  and  people  at  less  rates  than  standard 
gauge  roads,  with  heavier  indebtedness.  This  is  matter  for  the  roads  to 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  279 

settle  among  themselves.  I  wish  only  to  note  the  fact,  that  Col.  Paramore 
has  been  exceptionally  fortunate  in  one  respect ;  the  Merchants'  Exchange 
of  St.  Louis,  by  a  public  '  reception,'  has  recognized  his  services  in  building 
the  Texas  and  St.  Louis  railroad.  This  unusual  compliment  may  possibly 
be  the  beginning  of  a  system  of  recognitions,  by  which  those  who  do  good 
work  to  benefit  the  general  interests  will  find  it  pleasantly  acknowledged. 
Mark  Anthony  said  of  Caesar — 

"  He  hath  brought  many  captives  home  to  Rome, 
Whose  ransoms  did  the  general  coffers  fill." 

But  the  people  of  St.  Louis  care  more  for  cotton  bales  than  for  captives  like 
those  of  the  old  Roman,  and  if  Col.  Paramore's  road  can  bring  the  bales  and 
help  to  fill  the  coffers,  the  honor  awarded  him  will  never  be  regretted. 

Let  us  get  off  these  railroads  and  contemplate  works  of  quieter  character, 
and  more  ornamental,  yet  useful  in  their  way. 

It  was  the  season  of  growth  and  bloom,  thirty  years  ago.  A  shower  in 
the  night  had  given  us  a  summer  morning  so  fresh,  that  the  sun's  heat  was 
unheeded  as  we  breathed  the  purified  atmosphere.  The  gloom  of  our  Real 
Estate  office  was  cheered  by  thoughts  of  the  flowers  we  should  see  in  the 
gardens  and  by  the  wayside  in  our  evening  drive  through  the  suburbs;  for 
even  the  sickly  plants  in  the  city  had  an  aspect  of  unusual  vitality,  as  if 
they  might  yet  open  their  rusty  buds. 

A  gentleman  who  had  been  engaged  in  active  commerce  in  St.  Louis  from 
1819  till  his  retirement  in  1840,  came  in  with  a  bunch  of  roses  in  his  hand.  It 
was  not  rare  to  see  him  with  flowers,  and  we  knew  that  he  had  them  in  pro 
fusion  at  his  pleasant  residence  in  the  midst  of  the  beautiful  tract  bordering 
upon  the  King's  Highway.  He  had  given  up  commerce  in  goods,  wares  and 
merchandise,  but  had  only  changed ,  from  the  toil  for  gain  to  the  cheerful 
labor  of  wise  and  tasteful  disbursement.  We  knew  that  with  industry  as 
unwearied  as  that  of  the  counting  room,  he  was  beautifying  his  rural  home; 
but  we  had  never  thought  of  any  purpose  beyond  the  customary  enjoyment 
of  a  retreat  from  the  cares  of  an  active  business  life. 

Looking  at  a  map  on  the  wall,  he  remarked,  as  if  it  were  a  mere  common 
place  announcement,  that  he  intended  to  have  a  Botanical  Garden,  with 
proper  accessories,  free  for  citizens  and  strangers  to  visit;  and  that  he  had 
in  view  the  donation  of  a  tract  of  land  to  the  city  for  a  public  park,  on  con. 
ditioii  that  it  should  be  properly  improved.  If  I  recollect  rightly,  this  was 
the  first  communication  of  his  intention  to  any  one.  Mr.  Leffingwell  and 
myself  were  the  oldest  dealers  in  real  estate  in  St.  Louis,  and  although  his 
plans  were  as  yet  immature,  it  was  natural  that  he  should  advise  us  of  what 
he  had  in  contemplation  as  affecting  the  value  of  adjacent  properties.  There 
was  no  parade  of  generosity,  or  of  unusual  public  spirit,  but  the  statement 
was  made  as  unpretentiously  as  if  it  involved  nothing  more  than  an  ordi 
nary  act  of  daily  life.  If  a  photograph  had  been  taken  as  he  stood  there, 
thirty  years  ago,  pointing  with  his  cane  to  the  map,  disclosing  his  benevo- 


280  NOTES   TAKEN   TN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

lent  designs  and  indicating  the  broad  acres  to  be  donated,  the  picture  would 
be  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  Historical  Society's  gallery. 

The  intelligent  reader  has  already  identified  our  visitor  as  Mr.  HENRY 
SHAW. 

Tower  Grove  Park,  with  its  three  hundred  acres,  to  the  improvement 
and  embellishment  of  which  the  City  of  St.  Louis  has  contributed  only  a 
sum  comparatively  insignificant — with  its  colossal  statues  in  bronze  of  Shak- 
speare  and  Humboldt,  and  its  marble  busts  of  Mozart  and  Rossini — with  its 
roads,  walks,  trees  and  flowers  — is  the  creation  and  gift  of  Henry  Shaw  to 
the  people  of  St.  Louis  ;  and  not  only  for  the  land,  statues,  busts,  and  other 
adornments  are  they  indebted  to  him,  but  also  for  years  of  care  in  the  gen 
eral  superintendence  of  the  improvements,  and  for  the  knowledge  and  taste 
that  money  cannot  command,  but  without  which  the  Park  that  St.  Louis  is 
so  proud  of  could  not  have  existed  in  its  present  attractiveness. 

At  the  home  of  Mr.  Shaw,  the  Botanical  Garden,  and  its  attached  Library 
and  Herbarium,  have  been  growing  for  thirty  years,  and  have  afforded 
pleasure  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  visitors.  With  its  plant-houses  and 
open  grounds,  which  are  a  museum  of  living  vegetation  representing  nearly 
all  climes — with  its  Herbarium  of  innumerable  dried  specimens,  classified 
and  arranged — and  its  Library  comprising  all  the  literature  worth  noting  of 
Botany  and  Horticulture — the  Garden  and  its  accessories,  in  the  opportuni 
ties  afforded  for  the  study  of  these  allied  sciences,  are  unequalled  in  the 
western  hemisphere.  An  ample  estate  is  understood  to  have  been  set  apart 
for  the  support  of  the  Garden  through  all  time;  and  while  Mr.  Shaw  has 
not  disclosed  his  determination,  he  has,  I  doubt  not,  arranged  to  dispose  of 
it  in  a  manner  harmonizing  with  the  princely  munificence  which  has  brought 
it  to  its  present  condition. 

No  corporation,  or  municipality,  or  government,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlan 
tic,  has  done  so  good  a  work  as  the  unostentatious  citizen  of  St.  Louis  ;  and 
with  my  natural  desire  to  have  all  debts  paid— if  means  can  be  found — I 
have  been  puzzled  to  find  out  a  recompense  for  Mr.  Shaw,  even  though  he 
has  never  asked  or  cared  for  it. 

If  one  has  plenty  it  is  an  easy  thing  to  give  away  part  of  it  for  some  one 
else  to  enjoy  and  take  care  of;  and  I  imagine  it  to  be  a  sort  of  compulsory 
pleasure  to  bequeath  an  estate,  which  cannot  trouble  the  giver  after  the  be 
quest  takes  effect.  But  to  gain  by  patient  toil  a  fortune  in  trade,  and  then, 
instead  of  resting,  deliberately  go  to  work  to  plan  and  to  execute,  through 
long  years,  entirely  for  strangers  to  one's  home,  many  of  them  naturally 
thankless,  and  for  the  folks  we  call  posterity,  that  one  can  never  know  any 
thing  about, — this  is  a  sacrifice  of  one's  self  away  beyond  the  money  outlay, 
and  I  don't  see  how  we  are  to  pay  for  it. 

For  nearly  the  third  of  a  century,  Mr.  Henry  Shaw  has  been  the  self- 
dedicated  servant  and  benefactor  of  the  public — thinking,  and  planning, 
and  lavishing  his  means,  without  intermission  or  rest,  in  order  that  present 
and  future  generations  should  have  pleasure  and  instruction.  Let  any  one 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEAKS.  281 

reflect  on  what  he  has  gone  through  :  the  cares  inseparable  from  the  man 
agement  of  the  properties ;  the  inability  of  city  legislators  for  a  time  to  com 
prehend  his  munificent  gift  of  the  park,  thus  delaying  the  improvement  of 
it ;  the  stupidity  of  some  of  those  employed  to  work  out  his  plans  ;  throng 
after  throng  of  visitors,  entertained  with  urbanity  and  politeness  evincing 
wonderful  patience  and  fortitude ;  the  self-restraint  required  to  preserve  his 
temper  when  overrun  by  crowds,  some  of  the  persons  composing  them  too 
ignorant  to  comprehend  the  replies  to  their  own  questions;  and  the  ten 
thousand  other  annoyances  not  to  be  escaped  by  one  in  his  position.  Re 
flect  on  this,  and  say  if  such  devotion  can  be  adequately  compensated  ? 

The  esteem,  respect  and  gratitude  of  his  cotemporaries  —  the  possible 
appreciation  of  posterity — these  are  all  we  can  give  or  promise.  Any  further 
reward  must  exist  in  his  own  consciousness  of  having  lived  effectively  for 
the  benefit  of  mankind. 

"  No  thought  nor  care  for  gain, 

No  foolish  wish  for  glory's  gilded  letter, 
Have  bought  these  efforts  of  his  heart  and  brain ; 

But  only  that  the  world  might  be  the  better, 
For  one  who  has  not  spent  his  life  in  vain." 


282  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

A  PATENT  OF  NOBILITY  —  A  GOOD  SPEECH  IX  PHILADELPHIA  —  E.  HASKET 
DERBY  CALLS  —  LECTURE  IN  THE  BOSTON  STATE  HOUSE  —  FACTS  ABOUT 
THE  GREAT  WEST  IN  1856  —  CHICAGO,  CINCINNATI  AND  ST.  LOUIS  —  DE 
TROIT  AND  MILWAUKEE  AFTER  BOSTON  —  ST.  LOUIS  NOW  AFTER  CHICAGO 
—  HOW  THE  LECTURE  HELPED  TO  GET  THE  HOOSAC  TUNNEL  OPENED. 

It  is  not  improper  that  I  should  tell  how  it  came  about  that  I  once  helped 
to  get  the  Hoosac  tunnel  opened  !  I  credit  the  reader  with  knowing  that 
this  tunnel  is  a  hole  through  the  Hoosac  Mountain,  in  Massachusetts,  and 
has  a  railroad  in  it.  To  get  at  my  agency  in  opening  the  tunnel,  I  must  tell 
a  roundabout  story.  Having  in  1855  withdrawn  from  the  real  estate  busi 
ness,  and  spent  some  months  in  editorial  connection  with  a  St.  Louis  news 
paper,  I  went  east  in  the  winter  on  business  that  left  me  ample  time  to  make 
speeches,  if  I  wished  to  do  so.  I  did  wish,  as  I  thought  I  knew  something, 
and  could  tell  it.  The  St.  Louis  Chamber  of  Commerce,  in  January,  1856, 
unanimously  endorsed  me,  thus  : 

"  Whereas  it  appears  by  several  notices  in  the  public  journals  that  Mr. 
R.  S.  Elliott,  a  gentleman  long  and  favorably  known  to  the  citizens  of  St. 
Louis,  as  an  active,  intelligent,  and  honorable  member  of  this  community, 
proposes  to  deliver  in  the  Atlantic  states  a  series  of  lectures  on  the  west, 
embracing  facts  in  regard  to  the  physical  geography,  natural  resources, 
economic  relations,  and  progress  in  wealth,  morals  and  refinement  of  our 
part  of  the  country.  Therefore,  Resolved  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
St.  Louis,  That  we  have  every  confidence  in  the  ability  and  integrity  of  Mr. 
Elliott  for  the  task  he  has  undertaken,  and  we  heartily  commend  him  to  the 
favorable  regard  of  the  people  of  the  eastern  cities." 

With  this  patent  of  nobility,  I  went  to  Philadelphia.  My  first  audience 
had  forty  persons  ;  but  I  held  them  an  hour,  and  concluded  I  was  successful 
in  talking  figures.  The  Philadelphians,  of  their  own  motion,  gave  me  at  a 
second  trial  the  Musical  Fund  Hall,  and  an  audience  of  about  1,000  persons. 
The  lecture  (illustrated  with  an  outline  map),  occupied  nearly  two  hours, 
but  was  full  of  facts,  and  views  new  to  the  audience. 

In  Boston,  I  had  delivered  a  short  lecture  before  the  Mercantile  Associa- 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  283 

tion,  and  was  much  surprised  next  day  by  Mr.  E.  Hasket  Derby,  an  emi 
nent  member  of  the  Boston  bar,  calling  on  me  at  the  Revere  House,  and 
proposing  that  I  should  deliver  a  lecture  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives  !  I 
told  Mr.  Derby  that  I  could  not  thmk  of  taking  so  great  a  liberty  as  to 
request  the  use  of  the  State  House  for  anything  I  could  say  ;  but  he  assured 
me  that  I  need  give  myself  no  concern,  as  I  would  be  invited  to  speak,  and 
the  Hall  placed  at  my  disposal.  It  was  accordingly  arranged  that  I  should 
deliver  the  lecture ;  and  I  was  probably  the  first  man  from  west  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  who  ever  made  a  speech  in  the  Boston  State  House.  The  lecture 
was  received  in  a  manner  highly  gratifying,  and  was  published  in  the  Bos 
ton  Post,  then  conducted  by  Col.  Charles  Green. 

A  few  extracts  from  that  lecture  of  March,  20,  1856,  may  not  be  without 
value,  as  the  reader  can  note  the  progress  and  growth  of  empire  since  that 
date.  Dakota,  Montana,  Wyoming,  Colorado,  Idaho  and  Nevada  were  then 
unknown ;  and  we  have  now  five  miles  of  railroad  in  the  United  States  for 
every  one  we  had  then.  Yet  we  seemed  to  have  a  big  country,  with  a 
grand  future;  though  if  we  look  back  over  the  twenty-seven  years,  and 
try  to  grasp  what  has  been  accomplished  in  that  time,  and  then  try  to 
forecast  what  the  next  twenty-seven  years  will  bring  forth,  imagination  is 
appalled. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  A  LECTURE  IN  BOSTON,  MARCH,  1856. 

"  THE  NORTHWEST.— In  the  northwest  let  us  include  only  the  States  of 
Michigan,  "Wisconsin,  and  Iowa,  and  the  Territory  of  Minnesota.  There 
they  lie,  penetrated  and  washed  by  the  greatest  lakes  and  some  of  the  great 
est  rivers  of  the  world.  They  have  so  many  thousands  of  miles  of  lake  and 
river  navigation,  leading  to  the  ocean  through  both  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
the  Mississippi,  and  the  artificial  avenues  created  by  capital,  science,  and 
labor  in  New  England,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  other  States,  that  it 
is  only  necessary  to  refer  you  to  the  map  and  the  Gazeteer  for  the  navigable 
resources  of  the  Northwest.  The  area  embraced  in  the  three  States  and 
Territories,  with  an  approximation  to  their  population  and  number  of  miles 
of  railroad  at  the  present  time,  is  in  the  following  table : 

Square  miles.          Acres.  Pop.  fs56.  Miles  of  R. 

Michigan 56,243  35,995,520  550,000          590 

Wisconsin 53,924  34,511,360  550,000          647 

Iowa 50,900  32,576,000  600,000  67 

Minnesota 83,000  53,120,000  60,0^0  00 


244,067       156,202,880       1,760,000       1,304 

u  What  a  domain  is  there  !  One  hundred  and  fifty-six  millions  of  acres ! 
Have  you  ever  tried  to  measure  the  capacity  for  production,  or  even  the  mag 
nitude  in  area,  of  the  region  here  presented  ?  The  area  of  England,  Scotland, 


284  NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

Wales,  and  Ireland,  according  to  the  best  authorities,  is  121,000  square  miles. 
The  Northwest  here  spoken  of  is  more  than  twice  as  great  in  area  as  the 
United  Kingdom ;  and,  if  Queen  Victoria  had  no  colonies,  she  would  rule 
over  a  patch  of  earth  smaller  than  Iowa  and  Minnesota  j  *  *  *  *  * 
The  area  of  the  New  England  States  is  about  63,000  square  miles.  Michi 
gan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  Minnesota  cover  nearly  four  times  as  much  of 
the  earth's  surface  as  all  New  England,  and  they  would  divide  into  thirty- 
one  States  as  large  as  Massachusetts,  and  leave  enough  over  for  some  modern 
Roger  Williams  to  found  a  new  State  larger  than  Rhode  Island. 

"  These  comparisons  are  made  to  bring  as  boldly  as  possible  before  you 
the  extent  of  the  Northwest.  By  comparing  the  size  of  your  own  section  of' 
the  Union  with  the  Northwest  you  can  realize  the  magnitude  of  the  latter. 
If  our  entire  Union  were  composed  of  thirty-one  States  no  larger  than  Massa 
chusetts,  and  we  had  never  been  used  to  a  larger  Union,  doubtless  we  should 
all  regard  it  with  pride.  Yet  the  three  States  and  one  Territory  of  which 
I  speak  would  make  such  a  Union— make  in  area,  and,  save  in  sea-going 
facilities,  far  exceed  in  capacity  for  producing  wealth,  thirty-one  States 
like  Massachusetts.  If  you  will  recollect,  the  population  of  all  New  Eng 
land  in  1850,  was  only  2,357,324.  The  Northwest  has,  therefore,  within  about 
600,000  as  many  people  as  all  New  England  had  in  1850.  In  1860  New  Eng 
land  will  have,  at  the  same  per  cent,  of  increase  as  in  the  decade  ending  in 
1850,  about  2,900,000  people.  In  all  of  the  year  1860  the  three  States  and  Min 
nesota  will  nearly  if  not  quite  rank  side  by  side  in  population  with  New 
England  ;  they  will  certainly  have  at  least  as  many  people  as  all  New  Eng 
land  had  in  1850 ;  but  they  will  not  have  as  many  to  the  square  mile.  If 
settled  as  densely  as  New  England  was  in  1850 — about  42  to  the  square  mile 
— they  would  contain  over  nine  millions  of  people.  If  as  densely  peopled  as 
Massachusetts  is  now — say  148  to  the  square  mile — they  would  contain  a 
population  of  thirty-six  millions.  *****  That  such  a  population  is 
in  time  to  occupy  the  broad  and  fertile  acres  of  the  Northwest,  swarm  in  its 
cities,  float  on  its  waters,  and  dash  along  its  railroads  is  equally  certain. 
True,  the  area  of  that  country  has  long  been  known.  But  its  population  has 
never  been  so  great  as  to-day.  In  no  previous  year  had  it  so  many  steam 
boats  on  its  waters  or  miles  of  railroad  in  operation  as  now.  Never  had  it 
so  much  fixed  property ;  never  so  much  exchangeable  wealth ;  never  so 
many  common  schools ;  never  so  many  higher  institutions  of  learning ; 
never  so  many  churches.  It  had  never  before  so  many  firesides ;  never  so 
much  productive  machinery ;  never  so  great  an  aggregate  of  comfort,  con 
venience,  elegance  and  luxury  ;  and  never  before  so  able  a  press.  It  was, 
consequently,  never  so  deserving  of  attention. 

"  CITIES  OF  THE  NORTHWEST. — Detroit,  Milwaukee,  and  Superior  City 
—the  latter  at  the  very  head  of  Lake  Superior— will  be,  I  think,  the  princi 
pal  cities  on  the  lakes,  in  the  region  of  which  I  speak.      *      *      *      *      * 
Detroit  had  in  June,  1855,  a  population  of  40,375  and  a  valuation  for  taxation 
of  $12,500,000.    Milwaukee  had  in  1855,  a  population  of  30,448,  and  a  valuation 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  285 

corresponding.  Here,  then,  in  these  two  remote  places  were  nearly  half  as 
many  people  as  in  the  city  of  Boston.  Their  valuation  is  far,  far  below  that 
of  Boston,  which  is  one  of  the  most  opulent  cities  in  the  world.  Yet  there 
was  a  time  when  even  Boston  was  as  poor  as  they ;  and  a  time  will  come, 
when  each  of  these  cities  will  be  equal  to  what  Boston  is  now.  They  will 
probably  never  overtake  Boston.  The  march  after  her  will  doubtless  be  like 
the  march  of  Chicago  after  St.  Louis — as  vain  as  an  effort  to  reach  the 
horizon. 

"THE  CENTRAL  WEST  — Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois!  Do  you  realize 
what  is  going  on  there  ?  Fifty-five  years  ago  there  were  not  fifty-five 
thousand  people  in  all  that  region,  except  the  original  owners  of  the  soil, 
who  have  given  way  to  the  superior  races.  The  Indians  were  there,  but 
only  50,000  whites.  Now  let  me  present  you  a  table  of  population  in  1850, 
an  estimate  of  the  population  now,  the  valuation  by  assessment,  and  the 
miles  of  railroad : 

States.                                                Pop.  1850.  Pop.  1856.  Valuation.  Railroads. 

Ohio 1,980,329  2,300,000  $860,877,354        2,725 

Indiana 988,416  1,250,000  310,000,000        1,789 

Illinois 851,470  1,350,000  230,000,000        2,215 

3,820,215        4,900,000        1,400,877,354        6,729 

"  These  States  had  in  1850  nearly  a  million  and  a  half  of  people  more  than 
the  six  States  of  New  England.  They  have  now  more  than  double  the 
population  of  all  New  England  in  1850.  The  census  of  1860  will  give  them 
between  five  and  a  half  and  six  millions — double  the  entire  population  of 
the  colonies  when  Massachusetts  and  Virginia  were  commencing  the  work 
of  independence.  Their  actual  valuation  is  not  less  than  two  thousand  five 
hundred  millions  of  dollars ;  nay,  citizens  of  those  States  will  tell  me  I 
ought  to  put  it  up  to  at  least  three  thousand  millions.  *  *  *  *  * 
The  railroad  figures  in  a  table  before  me  are  from  a  Boston  authority — the 
Railway  Times.  I  have  no  doubt  of  their  correctness,  if  they  are  not  too  low. 
But  you  will  see  from  another  table  which  I  have  before  me — showing  the 
progressive  annual  increase  of  the  miles  of  railroad  in  the  United  States  since 
1828 — that  the  three  States  have  nearly  as  many  miles  as  the  whole  Union 
had  in  1850 ;  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  State  of  Illinois  has  to-day 
more  miles  of  railroad  than  the  whole  Union  had  in  1840.  There  are  now 
23,242  miles  of  railroad  in  the  United  States.  More  than  one-fourth  of  all 
the  railroads  in  the  United  States  is  therefore  in  the  three  States  of  Ohio, 
Indiana,  and  Illinois.  ****** 

"  CITIES  OF  THE  CENTRAL  WEST. — It  would  fatigue  the  ear  for  me  to 
call  over  the  names  of  all  the  cities  numbering  ten  thousand  people  and  up 
wards  in  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  I  can  only  advert  to  the 
principal  cities  of  Illinois  and  Ohio. 

"  THE  CITY  OF  CHICAGO.— The  rapid  growth  of  Chicago  seems  wonder- 


286  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

fill.  In  1840  she  had  4,500  people ;  in  1855  she  had  a  population  of  nearly 
85,000.  Many  worthy  people  stand  amazed  at  this  increase,  yet  it  has 
nothing  in  it  half  so  wonderful  as  the  general  increase  of  the  country. 
Chicago  could  not  help  but  grow  rapidly,  particularly  after  railroads  had 
begun  to  penetrate  towards  her.  *****  A  few  figures  from  the 
annual  reports  of  the  business  of  Chicago  in  1855  will  not  be  valueless,  and 
may  aid  to  convey  an  idea  of  what  her  people  are  doing : 

Total  Receipts  of  Grain  at  Chicago  for  1855. 

Wheat,  bushels 7,535,098 

Corn            "        8,532,377 

Oats             "         2,947,188 

Rye             "        68,086 

Barley         "        201,895 

Flour  into  wheat,  equal  to 1,203,310 


20,486,954 

This  immense  quantity  of  over  20,000,000  bushels  of  grain,  received  in 
one  year  at  Chicago,  was  owing  somewhat  to  the  high  prices  of  1855,  which 
drew  grain  from  unusual  distances  to  that  market.  But  the  settlement  of 
the  country  tributary  to  Chicago  is  going  on  so  rapidly,  farms  are  being 
opened  and  extended  so  numerously  and  greatly  that  no  one  is  justified  in 
doubting  that  her  grain  trade  will  keep  up  to  enormously  high  figures. 
Chicago  does  a  large  lumber,  lath  and  shingle  business.  Thus  she  imported 
in  1855— 

Lumber,  feet , 306,553,467 

Laths,  number 46,487,550 

Shingles,  number ; 158,770,860 

"  Most  of  these  large  supplies  went  into  the  country,  to  villages  and  cities 
of  the  interior,  and  are  now  in  houses,  stores,  machine  shops,  fences,  railroad 
buildings,  churches,  etc.  But  I  must  not  dwell  too  long  at  Chicago.  With 
over  one  hundred  railroad  trains  arriving  and  departing  daily,  and  some 
thousands  of  vessels  on  the  lake  and  canal  each  year,  one  need  not  be  sur 
prised  by  the  extent  of  her  commerce,  nor  will  any  one  consider  incredible 
the  statement  that  the  income  of  the  railroads  'centering  in  Chicago,' 
amounted  in  1855  to  more  than  thirteen  millions  of  dollars !  '  Four  years 
ago,'  says  the  Chicago  Press,  speaking  of  the  miles  of  railroad  in  operation 
in  the  State  of  Illinois,  '  there  were  only  ninety-five.'  Now  there  are  over 
twenty-two  hundred  miles.  '  The  world,'  as  is  well  remarked  by  the  Press, 
has  never  seen  so  much  physical  progress  in  so  short  a  period.' 

"THE  CITY  OP  CINCINNATI.— With  commercial  interests  entirely  dif 
ferent  from  those  of  either  Chicago  or  St.  Louis  ;  situated  in  the  heart  of  the 
great  Ohio  valley ;  with  artificial  as  well  as  natural  avenues  of  commerce  in 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEABS.  287 

nearly  every  direction ;  with  a  population  already  (according  to  what  they 
say  in  Cincinnati)  numbering  more  than  Boston ;  with  a  well  developed 
manufacturing  industry,  and  rapidly  extending  her  railroads  through  the 
great  iron  and  coal  region  of  Southern  Ohio,  to  found  along  their  lines  new 
manufacturing  cities,  as  well  as  to  open  for  herself  additional  routes  to  the 
seaboard  at  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia,  Cincinnati  might  well  call  on  us 
for  an  hour  of  our  time,  and  she  would  furnish  materials  in  herself  for  a 
speech  of  an  evening.  Cincinnati,  like  Chicago,  is  the  centre  of  her  own 
system.  The  Ohio  valley,  by  which  we  mean  the  area  drained  by  the  tribu 
taries  of  the  Ohio  river,  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  on  the  globe.  It  is  also 
rich  in  mineral  wealth,  coal,  and  iron.  Manufacturing  industry  has  already 
reached  an  almost  wonderful  extent  and  perfection  in  Cincinnati,  considering 
that  she  is  not  three-score  and  ten  years  old.  You  may  therefore  expect 
Cincinnati  to  grow  in  the  future  almost  as  greatly  as  in  the  past.  But  details 
would  only  tire  you.  Let  me  impress  upon  you,  however,  that  the  growth  of 
Chicago  and  St.  Louis  by  no  means  implies  the  decline  of  Cincinnati.  The 
latter  has  heretofore  supplied  many  manufactured  articles  to  the  St.  Louis 
market,  which  St.  Louis  now  supplies  for  herself;  yet  the  manufactures  of 
Cincinnati  are  constantly  increasing.  *  *  *  *  *  It  is  worthy  of  remark, 
too,  that  while  Cincinnati  has  been  increasing  at  so  rapid  a  rate  in  popula- 
lation,  capital,  and  diversified  industry,  the  city  of  Louisville,  in  Kentucky, 
has  gone  up  to  85,000,  a  population  equal  to  that  of  Chicago,  and  is  now  in 
capital  one  of  the  richest  cities  in  the  Union.  ***** 

"THE  FAB  WEST.— I  have  included  only  the  State  of  Missouri  and  the 
Territory  of  Kansas  in  this  division.  Even  Nebraska  I  have  left  out,  because 
there  is  not  time  to  speak  of  her.  Let  us  see  what  Missouri  and  Kansas  are. 
If  we  assume  that  the  fertile  and  productive  part  of  Kansas,  extending  to 
the  borders  of  the  arid  plains,  embraces  an  area  of  50,000  square  miles,  we 
shall  not  over-estimate  her  territory.  Missouri  has  67,300,  square  miles. 
Here,  then,  are  117,300  square  miles  lying  west  of  the  Mississippi,  south  of 
the  State  of  Iowa,  and  north  of  the  State  of  Arkansas,  a  country  nearly 
double  the  area  of  New  England,  and  about  fifteen  times  as  large  as  the 
State  of  Massachusetts.  The  soil  throughout  nearly  its  entire  extent  is  so 
rich  and  productive  that  one  may  almost  say  there  is  not  a  barren  acre.  In 
both  Missouri  and  Kansas  coal  beds  exist  of  extent  so  vast  that  a  thousand 
years  cannot  exhaust  them.  *****  The  population  of  Missouri  in 
1850  was  682,044.  It  is  now,  I  think,  not  less  than  850,000,  and  her  valuation 
is  $180,000,000. 

"THE  CITY  OF  ST.  Louis.— The  immense  extent  of  river  navigation, 
of  which  St.  Louis  is  the  principal  point,  has  made  her  what  she  is — a  city 
of  125,000  people,  with  churches,  schools,  hotels,  steamboats,  newspapers, 
and  other  institutions  of  civilized  life,  which  can  only  be  appreciated  on 
being  seen.  Her  commercial  houses  are  equal  to  any  in  the  Union,  not  only 
in  the  intelligence  and  integrity  of  the  merchants,  but  even  in  the  edifices 
erected  for  commercial  uses.  Our  paved  and  macadamized  streets  would 


288  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

more  than  reach  from  Boston  to  Providence.  The  gas  pipes,  street  mains, 
laid  down  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis  would  reach  from  Boston  to  Worcester. 
There  are  eighteen  miles  of  public  street  sewers,  exclusive  of  sidings.  The 
wharf  stretches  a  mile  and  a  quarter  on  the  Mississippi,  is  several  hundred 
feet  wide,  and  during  the  season  of  navigation  is  crowded  with  the  products 
of  every  clime  and  soil.  In  1855  there  were  600,000  barrels  of  flour  manu 
factured  in  St.  Louis  and  over  400,000  received  from  other  places,  making  a 
million  barrels,  and  equalling  the  flour  trade  of  Philadelphia.  About  140,000 
bags  of  coffee  were  received  in  1855,  enough  to  make  a  string  of  coffee  bags 
more  than  fifty  miles  in  length.  The  hemp,  tobacco,  pork,  lard,  wheat,  bale- 
rope,  flour,  coffee,  sugar,  and  salt  passing  through  the  hands  of  St.  Louis 
merchants  in  1855  would,  allowing  the  actual  space  occupied  by  each  article, 
reach  in  one  grand  line  from  St.  Louis  to  Boston.  In  1834  the  treaty  was 
made  with  the  Indians  on  the  site  of  Chicago.  In  1855  Chicago  proved  her 
self  the  largest  primary  grain  port  in  the  world,  and  her  lumber  trade 
exceeded  that  of  either  Albany  or  Bangor,  the  two  greatest  lumber  marts  in 
the  Atlantic  States.  In  1840  St.  Louis  had  16,000  people  ;  in  1855  she  had 
125,000.  She  added  in  fifteen  years  109,000  to  her  population.  In  the  same 
fifteen  years  Chicago  added  80,000  to  her  population.  So  in  fifteen  years  the 
addition  to  the  population  of  these  two  Western  cities  was  189,000  ;  or  more 
people  than  Boston  has  collected  together  since  she  was  founded,  somewhat 
more  than  two  centuries  ago.  With  population  and  capital  accumulating 
in  the  West,  the  arts  of  civilized  life  are  all  brought  into  active  and  extensive 
requisition ;  and  where  farms  are  turned  over  in  the  smooth  prairie,  pre 
pared  by  nature  for  the  plow,  1,000  acres  in  a  field,  and  every  acre  yields  a 
hundred  fold  to  labor,  the  increase  of  fixed  as  well  as  exchangeable  wealth 
soon  passes  the  bounds  of  computation.  The  inventive  genius  of  this  coun 
try  has  of  late  years  taxed  itself  to  facilitate  the  operations  of  the  farmer; 
and  the  labor-saving  and  people-multiplying  machines  for  the  farmer  as 
well  as  the  mechanic,  where  are  they  brought  into  most  general  requisi 
tion  ?  In  the  West,  andthere  will  their  results  be  felt.  *  *  *  *  * 
The  empire  of  which  I  have  spoken— Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Minne 
sota,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Missouri,  and  Kansas — do  you  realize  that  it  is 
as  great  an  area  as  the  whole  Atlantic  slope  of  the  Union,  from  Maine  to 
Florida,  four  times  as  great  as  the  United  Kingdom  of  Queen  Victoria,  and 
with  elements  of  wealth  in  greater  profusion  and  variety  than  any  other 
region  of  equal  area  on  earth  ?  And  if  we  have  struggled  up  to  our  present 
numbers  and  powers  from  such  small  beginnings  ;  if,  starting  on  a  basis  of 
nothing  but  soil,  climate,  rivers,  lakes,  and  mines,  the  West  has  within  but 
half  a  century  accomplished  so  much,  what  may  we  not  anticipate  in  the 
future,  starting  from  the  present  basis?  *****  I  know  very  well 
that  the  manufactures  of  Massachusetts  were  over  two  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  in  1855,  having  more  than  doubled  in  the  ten  years  from  1845.  But 
the  trade  of  the  lakes  has  increased  about  eight  hundred  per  cent,  in  that 
time.  The  population,  commerce,  and  manufactures  of  St.  Louis  and  Chi- 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  289 

cago  have  gone  up  several  hundred  per  cent.  The  production  and  product 
ive  facilities  have,  on  an  average,  in  the  country  I  have  spoken  of,  more  than 
quadrupled  in  that  time.  The  railroad  system  of  the  West,  stretching  thou 
sands  of  miles  over  her  fertile  soil,  is  almost  entirely  the  creation  of  the  last 
ten  years.  In  1845  you  could  not  have  gone  from  Boston  by  rail  to  the 
capital  of  any  of  the  States  I  have  been  considering.  Now  you  can  go  by 
rail  from  Boston  (and  by  several  routes  too,  part  of  the  way)  to  the  capital 
of  any  State  I  have  named,  and  before  1860  to  the  capitals  of  Minnesota  and 
Kansas  too,  most  probably.  You  will  therefore  see  that  to  double  your 
manufactures  in  ten  years  is  not  keeping  up  with  the  country." 


When  I  said  in  the  lecture  that  the  march  of  Detroit  and  Milwaukee 
after  Boston  would  doubtless  "  be  like  the  march  of  Chicago  after  St.  Louis 
— as  vain  as  an  effort  to  reach  the  horizon,"  the  figure  of  speech  was  as  true 
as  it  was  forcible.  It  now  seems  to  have  an  element  of  the  poetic  in  it ;  but 
the  fact  is,  St.  Louis  stopped  to  rest  a  little  in  1861,  and  she  is  now  after 
Chicago. 

The  reader  may  wish  to  know  what  this  lecture  had  to  do  with  the 
Hoosac  Tunnel  ?  Only  this  :  Mr.  Derby  was  counsel  for  the  Railroad,  and 
the  Company  wanted  "  state  aid  "  for  the  tunnel.  My  lecture  presented  a 
view  of  western  growth  and  prospects  more  comprehensive  than  they  had 
been  accustomed  to,  and  showed  that  it  was  worth  while  to  reach  such  a 
country  with  a  railroad,  even  through  a  mountain;  and  therefore,  Mr. 
Derby  thought,  it  was  worth  while  to  have  a  speech  in  the  State  House,  in 
order  to  influence  the  Legislature  to  vote  for  the  tunnel  grant.  I  delivered 
the  lecture.  The  tunnel  was  opened.  Need  I  say  more  ? 


290  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

RIVER  IMPROVEMENT  —  MEMORIALS  TO  CONGRESS  —  E ADS  AND  NELSON  —  CON 
TRACT  SYSTEM  PROPOSED  —  BILL  LOST  IN  SENATE  —  CONSTITUTIONAL 
QUESTIONS  AND  VETOES  —  DOUGLAS  AND  TONNAGE  DUES  —  SECRETARY  OF 
WAR  DAVIS  —  SEDIMENTARY  RIVERS  —  STRANGE  TURN  OF  EVENTS  —  GUN 
BOATS  —  MR.  BENJAMIN  FORGIVEN. 

In  the  spring  of  1856  I  spent  some  weeks  visiting  river  ports  to  aid  in 
attracting  public  attention  to  the  necessity  and  importance  of  improving 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  its  great  tributaries.  The  firm 
of  Eads  &  Nelson,  composed  of  James  E.  Eads  and  William  S.  Nelson,  had 
boen  for  a  dozen  or  more  years  engaged  in  the  business  of  recovering  boats 
and  cargoes  sunk  by  accident  in  the  western  rivers  ;  and  having  a  large 
plant  of  wrecking  and  diving  bell  boats,  suited  to  the  removal  of  snags? 
wrecks  and  other  obstructions,  were  prepared  to  enter  into  a  contract  with 
the  government  to  improve  the  navigation.  The  commerce  on  the  rivers 
was  very  large,  and  the  annual  losses  correspondingly  great. 

Memorials  for  the  improvement  of  the  rivers  were  numerously  signed  by 
Chambers  of  Commerce,  Merchants,  Underwriters,  Steamboatmen,  and  citi 
zens  generally,  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  valley,  and  were  presented 
to  Congress.  Mr.  Eads  and  myself  spent  a  couple  of  months  in  Washing 
ton,  and  succeeded  in  passing  a  bill  through  the  House  of  Representatives, 
providing  for  the  removal  of  snags,  etc.,  by  contract.  Luther  M.  Kennett 
and  John  S.  Phelps,  then  in  Congress  from  Missouri,  gave  efficient  aid  in 
passing  the  bill,  as  both  were  men  of  superior  abilities,  having  more  than 
ordinary  influence  in  the  House ;  and  they  both  appreciated  the  practical 
views  of  Mr.  Eads  and  the  beneficial  results  to  the  public  at  which  he  aimed. 
The  bill  was  not  reached  in  the  Senate ;  though  I  think  it  could  have  been 
reached  and  probably  passed,  but  for  the  neglect  and  indifference  of  Judah 
P.  Benjamin,  then  a  Senator  from  Louisiana  ; — since  prominent  in  the  coun 
cils  of  the  "  Confederate  States,"  and  after  Appamatox,  a  lawyer  of  distinc 
tion  over  in  London. 

The  reader  of  to  day  will  hardly  be  able  to  realize  that  in  1856  we  had 
to  argue  the  "constitutionality"  of  appropriations  to  the  great  rivers! 
The  democratic  party  had  declared  in  a  platform  that  "  the  constltu- 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEAKS.  291 

tion  does  not  confer  upon  the  General  Government  the  power  to  commence 
and  carry  on  a  general  system  of  internal  improvement;"  and  Franklin 
Pierce,  then  President,  had  actually  vetoed  a  bill  to  attempt  the  improve 
ment  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  one  to  improve  the  St.  Clair  Flats 
in  Michigan,  both  of  which  were  passed  over  the  veto.  In  July,  Senator- 
Lewis  Cass  thought  it  necessary  to  make  an  elaborate  speech  in  opposi 
tion  to  the  views  of  President  Pierce,  and  holding  that  the  improvement  of 
the  national  rivers  and  the  harbors  on  the  lakes  was  not  entering  upon  "  a 
general  system  of  internal  improvement,"  as  meant  by  the  platform.  Even 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  though  not  doubting  the  constitutionality  or  expedi 
ency  of  appropriations  for  the  improvement  of  the  rivers,  had  in  1854  pro 
posed  the  collection  of  tonnage  dues  by  the  western  states  and  their  appli 
cation  to  rivers  and  harbors,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  getting  the  desired 
action  of  Congress. 

Our  memorials  had  been  carefully  drawn  to  ask  for  nothing  that  was  not 
clearly  national  and  constitutional,  even  under  the  construction  given  to  the 
constitution  by  Mr.  Calhoun ;  and  in  a  pamphlet  laid  on  tho  desks  of  mem 
bers,  the  memorials  were  sustained  by  strong  and  just  arguments.  The 
effort  of  Messrs.  Eads  &  Nelson  had  therefore  the  result  of  aiding  to  turn 
the  public  mind  to  the  true  doctrine  on  the  subject  of  river  improvements, 
then  in  dispute,  but  now  universally  recognized.  Hence,  though  the  bill 
failed,  Mr.  Eads  and  his  friends  (myself  among  them)  did  a  public  service 
in  placing  the  necessity  and  propriety  of  improving  the  navigation  of  west 
ern  rivers  in  a  stronger  light  than  ever  before ;  and  in  the  course  of  years, 
the  seeds  sown  in  1856  have  borne  fruit  not  only  in  the  Des  Moines  Rapids 
Canal,  but  also  on  the  river  from  St.  Paul  to  its  mouth.  The  episode  of  1856 
has  been  overshadowed  by  much  greater  events  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Eads,  but 
it  was,  nevertheless,  an  important  part  of  a  career  of  remarkable  usefulness. 
It  was  the  first  suggestion  that  he  could  do  a  great  work  for  the  government, 
if  opportunity  were  given  him  ;  and  if  our  bill  had  become  a  law,  the  results 
would  have  shown  as  distinctly  as  his  recent  achievement  at  the  river's 
mouth,  that  he  might  be  relied  on  to  do  all  he  proposed. 

Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  then  Secretary  of  War,  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Mr. 
Kennett  against  the  "  contract  system  "  for  removing  obstructions  to  navi 
gation,  assuming,  without  warrant  either  in  facts  or  common  justice,  that 
the  contractors  would  not  try  to  earn  their  compensation,  but  only  to  cheat 
the  government !  The  way  Mr.  Davis  figured  it  out,  the  proposal  of  Eads  & 
Nelson  was  an  attempt  at  one  of  the  biggest  swindles  imaginable ;  but  as 
Mr.  Kennett  and  Mr.  Phelps  had  known  these  gentlemen  for  many  years, 
the  fulmination  of  the  uneasy  Secretary  did  not  in  the  least  moderate  their 
support  of  the  bill.  If  the  reader  could  have  the  knowledge  that  Mr.  Ken- 
iiett  and  I  had  in  1856  of  all  the  parties  and  circumstances  concerned,  some 
passages  from  the  letter  of  Mr.  Davis  might  be  given  as  a  capital  chapter 
of  funny  reading.  But  the  Secretary  also  said  some  good  things  in  his  let 
ter,  as  for  example : 


292  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

"Unless  the  improvement  of  western  rivers  is  to  be  conducted  under  a 
general  system,  supported  by  adequate  means  for  many  consecutive  years, 
only  partial  benefits  can  be  expected  to  result." 

The  foundation  for  this  general  system  was  laid  by  Mr.  Eads  twenty 
years  later,  when  he  suggested  and  urged  the  organization  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  River  Commission,  now  in  charge  of  the  river ;  but  even  at  the  date 
of  Mr.  Davis's  letter,  Mr.  Eads  was  proposing  to  prosecute  the  improve 
ment  of  the  navigation  through  "  consecutive  years."  Mr.  Davia  con 
cluded  : 

"  I  cannot  hope  that  this  [river  improvement]  can  be  attained  by  partial 
and  occasional  appropriations,  even  when  expended  by  the  most  competent 
engineers,  according  to  the  best  digested  plans,  but  there  is  still  less  hope 
of  its  being  attained  by  contracts,  to  be  executed  according  to  the  concep 
tions  of  men  whose  previous  pursuits  give  no  assurance  of  ability  to  solve  a 
problem  in  civil  engineering — than,  which  none  is  more  difficult — a  problem 
which  involves  the  control  of  mighty  rivers  flowing  through  alluvial  val 
leys — the  volume  of  whose  waters  varies  irregularly  with  every  year  and 
every  season." 

This  passage  was  directed  at  Eads  &  Nelson,  and  the  suggestion  that 
their  "previous  pursuits"  gave  no  assurance  of  their  ability  to  remove 
snags,  sunken  wrecks  and  other  obstructions  from  river  channels — which 
was  the  only  "problem  in  civil  engineering  "  to  be  solved  under  the  bill — 
is  exquisitely  amusing,  inasmuch  as  they  had  for  years  been  engaged  in  a 
business  which  necessarily  gave  them  a  better  knowledge  of  all  river  "  prob 
lems  "  than  could  possibly  be  obtained  in  any  other  way.  In  1874  when  it 
was  proposed  to  build  jetties  and  give  the  commerce  of  the  valley  an  open 
river  mouth,  the  Chief  of  Engineers,  Gen.  Humphreys,  advanced  the  same 
notion  that  Mr.  Secretary  Davis  had  put  in  his  letter  of  1856.  to  wit :  that 
Mr.  Eads  did  not  know  anything  about  the  river ! 

At  a  Commercial  Convention  in  1878,  at  New  Orleans,  Mr.  Davis  renewed 
his  suggestion  of  the  difficulty  of  "  controlling  mighty  rivers  flowing  through 
alluvial  valleys ;  "  but  it  had  already  been  demonstrated  at  the  delta  that 
this  difficulty  can  be  met  and  overcome.  The  works  at  the  head  of  the 
passes  were  then,  and  are  now,  controlling  the  Mississippi  where  it  is  about 
two  miles  wide ;  and  if  the  plans  of  Mr.  Eads  are  ever  executed  they  will 
control  the  mighty  river  all  the  way  up  to  Cairo  or  St.  Louis.  The  old 
notion  that  sediment  bearing  rivers  flowing  through  alluvial  formations 
cannot  be  controlled,  is  exploded  by  facts  at  the  South  Pass  of  the  Mississ 
ippi.  In  truth,  such  rivers  are  the  only  ones  which  can  be  compelled,  under 
the  laws  which  govern  them,  to  aid  in  their  own  improvement,  by  digging 
their  own  channels  and  building  up  their  own  banks. 

Not  designing  to  revive  belligerent  memories,  I  may  note  the  strange 
upshot  of  events,  when  in  1861,  only  five  years  after  Mr.  Secretary  of  War 
Davis— no  doubt  acting  in  good  faith  according  to  his  lights— rejected  with 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  293 

contempt  the  aid  of  Mr.  Eads  in  improving  the  rivers  by  contract,  the  same 
Mr.  Eads  was  summoned  to  Washington  City,  to  take  a  "  contract "  for  the 
construction  of  gun-boats  to  operate  against  the  Confederacy  of  which  the 
same  Mr.  Davis  was  President!  A  curious  turn  of  fate,  and  looks  like 
retribution,  but  I  do  not  think  Mr.  Eads  ever  regarded  it  in  that  light,  or 
cherished  any  personal  ill-feeling  towards  Mr.  Davis  on  account  of  the  lat- 
ter's  action  in  1856. 

The  manner  in  which  Mr.  Eads  executed  the  gun-boat  contract  was  a 
remarkable  commentary  on  the  treatment  he  had  received  at  the  hands  of 
the  Secretary  of  War  in  1856.  The  contract  was  signed  at  Washington  7th 
August,  1861,  and  Mr.  Eads  returned  to  St.  Louis  under  an  obligation  to 
perform  what  most  men  regarded  as  a  miracle.  The  engines  to  drive  the 
first  iron-clad  fleet  were  yet  to  be  built.  The  timber  to  form  the  hulls  was 
yet  growing  in  the  forest,  and  the  huge  rollers  and  machinery  that  were  to 
form  their  iron  armor  were  not  yet  fitted  for  the  work.  The  rapidity  with 
which  this  great  work  was  to  be  done  made  it  necessary  to  employ  every 
means  and  agency  which  the  country  afforded.  The  telegraph  made  the 
contractor  ubiquitous.  Knowing  exactly  what  was  to  be  done,  and  how  to 
do  it,  his  presence  and  energy  inspired  confidence  at  home,  and  he  talked 
by  lightning  with  foundries  and  machine  shops  wherever  available.  The 
country  was  electrified  by  his  apparent  audacity.  Furnace  fires  blazed 
afresh ;  foundries,  factories  and  workshops  were  all  life  night  and  day ;  saw 
mills  were  humming,  and  the  green  forest  trees  crowded  into  St.  Louis  in 
the  shape  of  plank  and  timber ;  the  iron  works  of  Cincinnati,  Pittsburgh 
and  other  places  were  laid  under  contribution,  and  thousands  of  workers 
knew  neither  night  nor  Sunday  till  the  great  labor  was  accomplished. 
Seven  of  the  boats  were  completed  and  ready  for  the  armament  of  one 
hundred  and  seven  large  guns  in  the  period  of  one  hundred  days.  Never 
before  or  since  was  so  large  a  contract  executed  in  so  short  a  time.  Only  a 
power  of  combination,  almost  miraculous,  could  have  achieved  the  results. 

Mr.  Benjamin  had  defeated  our  bill  for  river  improvement,  and  I  did  not 
forgive  him  till  1866.  In  that  year  a  confederate  major  called  on  me,  and 
having  spoken  of  President  Davis,  I  suggested  to  him  that  the  rank  of  Mr. 
D.  had  not  been  formally  recognized. 

"  Well,  he  was  our  President,  at  least  till  the  confederacy  dissolved,  and 
I  stuck  to  him  till  the  last,  as  I  was  one  of  the  guard  in  his  flight." 

"  And  when  did  you  quit  ?  " 

"  Only  when  I  saw  that  the  government  was  gone  to  pieces.  We  had 
borne  our  hardships  well,  dark  as  the  future  was ;  but  when  I  found  Mr. 
Benjamin  one  day  on  the  march  trading  saddles  with  a  private  soldier,  I 
concluded  the  cause  was  lost,  and  I  gave  it  up." 

My  resentment  faded  away,  as  I  thought  of  the  sufferings  of  Judah  P. 
on  horseback,  and  his  acute  sense  of  lost  dignity,  when  dickering  for  that 
saddle. 


294  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER   XLIII. 

INSURANCE — NO  LAWSUITS — IRON  BARGE  PREMIUM — EADS  ON  IRON  VESSELS — 
RIVER  CONVENTION — DBS  MOINES  AND  ROCK  ISLAND  RAPIDS  —  MOUTH  OF 
THE  MISSISSIPPI  — PLANS  OF  IMPROVEMENT— GRAIN  ASSOCIATION— BOARD 
OP  TRADE  TALK — DREDGING  AND  JETTIES — DREAMINS  OP  POSSIBILITIES — 
THE  GRAIN  TRADE  OP  ST.  LOUIS  —  ELEVATORS  AND  BARGE  LINE  —  REA, 
HAARSTICK  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATES. 

As  Secretary  of  the  Excelsior  Insurance  Company  of  St.  Louis  from  1865 
to  the  early  months  of  1870,  I  was  in  cargo  as  well  as  fire  insurance ;  classed 
with  those  men  whose  lives  have  the  negative  merit  of  doing  little  harm,  if 
they  do  but  little  good.  As  usual,  we  got  along  without  lawsuits.  Few 
men  have  been  so  fortunate  as  I  in  escaping  litigation.  Since  I  have  had  a 
home  in  Missouri,  not  a  dollar  of  all  the  millions  collected  in  taxes,  has  gone 
to  pay  judges,  juries  or  tipstaves  for  litigation  of  mine.  Of  the  hundreds  of 
deeds  which  I  wrote  when  in  the  real  estate  business,  not  one  has  ever 
through  its  imperfections,  brought  any  parties  into  court,  or  cost  the  tax 
payers  any  money.  I  tell  this  as  an  example  to  the  young.  There  is  as 
much  good  philosophy  suggested  as  there  is  quiet  humor  shown  in  Diedrich 
Knickerbocker's  statement,  that  one  lawsuit  which  he  lost  nearly  ruined 
him,  and  one  which  he  gained  completed  the  wreck  of  his  fortune. 

In  May,  1868,  the  Directors  of  the  Company,  on  motion  of  A.  K.  Northrup, 
passed  the  following : 

"Whereas,  cheap  transportation  of  the  products  of  the  soil  is  not  more 
important  to  the  farmers  than  to  the  commercial  cities  of  the  west ;  and  in 
the  opinion  of  practical  men  the  grain  of  the  vast  and  fertile  regions  drained 
by  our  great  rivers  can  best  reach  the  sea  through  those  natural  channels ; 
and  whereas  it  is  believed  that  iron  vessels  can  be  made  as  effective  in  the 
uses  of  peace  as  they  have  proved  in  war.  Therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Excelsior  Insurance  Company  will,  at  the  St.  Louis 
Fair  of  1868,  pay  a  premium  of  one  hundred  dollars  for  the  best  plan  for  the 
construction  of  iron  barges  and  vessels  suited  to  carry  grain  in  bulk  on  the 
Mississippi  River  and  tributaries." 

To  this  premium  Logan  D.  Dameron  and  the  Fair  Association  each  added 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEAKS.  295 

a  like  sum.  The  object  of  the  premium  was  to  draw  attention  to  the  sub 
ject  of  iron  vessels,  and  this  was  accomplished.  F.  H.  Morse,  American  Con 
sul  in  London,  communicated  a  good  deal  of  information  in  regard  to  iron 
vessels  in  use  elsewhere,  and  shipbuilders  on  the  Clyde  and  Thames  sent 
interesting  and  instructive  data.  Barge  on  the  brain  was  for  a  time  epi 
demic,  and  whole  fleets  of  iron  vessels,  with  phenomenal  cargoes,  were  daily 
launched  from  editorial  and  other  pens.  In  May,  1869,  James  B.  Eads,  in  a 
letter  to  a. National  Commercial  Convention  in  New  Orleans,  said : 

"  I  beg  respectfully  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Convention  to  the  import 
ance  of  iron  barges  and  iron  steamers  on  the  Mississippi  river.  As  these 
vessels  are  being  used  in  all  parts  of  the  world  except  in  America,  I  would 
suggest  that  inquiry  be  set  on  foot  by  the  Convention  to  discover  why  the 
grain  growers  and  planters  of  this  valley  are  not  enjoying  the  advantages 
afforded  by  the  introduction  of  such  boats  and  barges  upon  the  Mississippi. 
They  are  used  on  all  the  chief  rivers  in  Europe  and  Asia,  several  streams  of 
which  countries  are  far  more  rapid  and  dangerous  than  the  Mississippi. 
Numbers  of  them  are  being  constructed  in  Great  Britain  for  the  rivers  of 
India,  for  the  Nile,  the  Danube,  and  indeed  for  streams  in  almost  every 
quarter  of  the  globe,  save  America.  These  vessels  will  carry  from  ten  to 
fifteen  per  cent,  more  cargo  than  wooden  hulls  of  equal  size,  strength  and 
draught,  and  never  have  their  carrying  capacity  lessened  by  being  water 
soaked.  They  cannot  be  destroyed  by  fire,  are  made  with  water-tight  com 
partments,  and  are  almost  absolutely  proof  against  sinking." 

Mr.  Eads  followed  this  with  many  other  strong  reasons  for  the  use  of  iron 
vessels — a  topic  on  which  he  had  earned  the  right  to  speak  by  the  actual 
building  of  iron  gun-boats  at  St.  Louis.  The  New  Orleans  Convention  re 
solved,  "  that  the  building  and  employing  of  iron  barges  and  steamboats  in 
transporting  produce  and  freights  generally  on  the  Mississippi  river  and  its 
tributaries,  is  highly  recommended  as  a  sure  means  of  lessening  the  cost  of 
freights  and  insurance,  and  increasing  the  amount  of  transportation  on  our 
rivers." 

The  letter  of  Mr.  Eads  was  good  backing  for  the  movement  of  the  Excel 
sior  Insurance  Company,  but  though  the  air  was  for  a  year  or  more  as  full 
of  iron  barges  as  ever  the  atmosphere  of  Utah  was  of  grasshoppers,  yet  the 
barges  did  not  actually  get  on  the  water  ;  and  hence,  while  I  can  claim  to 
have  had  a  fair  share  in  bringing  on  the  discussion,  I  have  to  acknowledge 
that  the  results  are  not  such  as  to  justify  much  felicitation.  The  day  will 
come,  sooner  or  later,  when  iron  or  steel  plates  will  take  the  place  of  plank. 
Wood  is  yearly  getting  scarcer,  while  Bessemer  steel  can  be  made  at  a  less 
price  than  iron  a  few  years  ago. 

After  1865,  the  question  of  river  improvement  began  to  attract  much  atten 
tion.  In  February,  1867,  a  great  river  convention  was  held  in  St.  Louis,  and 
as  it  was  still  necessary  to  instruct  the  public,  Mr.  Eads,  on  behalf  of  the 
Merchants'  Exchange,  delivered  an  address  to  the  Convention  on  the  im- 


296,  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

portance  of  improved  waterways,  treating  the  subject  with  practical  wisdom 
and  much  beauty  of  illustration.  The  Convention  was  followed  in  due  course 
by  appropriations  for  the  canal  at  Des  Moines  Rapids  and  the  channel  im 
provement  at  Rock  Island. 

A  great  deal  of  attention  was  also  directed  to  the  mouth  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  for  the  improvement  of  which  six  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars 
were  appropriated  in  the  years  1866-67-68-69  and  '70.  The  U.  S.  Engineers 
built  two  dredge  boats,  the  Essayons  and  the  McAlester,  but  never  suc 
ceeded  in  digging  a  channel  to  materially  assist  navigation.  Professor  Ed 
ward  Fontaine  visited  St.  Louis  with  a  plan  for  building  jetties  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  with  Manico  caissons  —  crates  of  rod  iron,  made  like 
crockery  crates,  and  filled  with  stone  ;  but  there  were  fatal  objections  to  his 
plan,  aside  from  its  great  cost.  General  M.  Jeff.  Thompson  came  up  from 
New  Orleans  with  a  plan  to  carry  ships  over  the  bar :  rubber  bags  were  to 
be  inflated  with  air  under  water,  and  thus  lift  up  the  vessel  and  float  her  in 
or  out  of  the  river. 

Meantime  the  "  Grain  Association"  of  St.  Louis  was  organized,  with  the 
view  of  promoting  foreign  trade,  by  way  of  New  Orleans.  Some  cargoes  of 
grain  (50(/,000  bushels)  were  shipped,  which  dispelled  climatic  objections, 
but  the  enterprise  had  started  when  prices  were  declining,  and  the  finan 
cial  result  was  unfortunate.  Like  the  hardwood  lumber  of  the  Gallagher 
Mill,  the  grain  had  no  adequate  market,  and  the  right  kind  of  ships  could 
not  get  to  New  Orleans  to  carry  it  away.  At  a  meeting  of  the  St.  Louis 
Board  of  Trade  (an  organization  to  discuss  matters  of  public  interest),  in 
April,  1869,  I  said : 

"  It  is  hardly  creditable  that  this  Mississippi  river,  which  we  claim  to  be 
the  most  magnificent  in  the  world,  should  be  in  such  a  condition  that  Mr. 
Higby,  and  the  St.  Louis  Elevator  Company,  when  they  put  an  advertise 
ment  in  the  Liverpool  papers  proposing  consignments  of  grain  from  New 
Orleans,  should  be  obliged  to  insert  in  that  advertisement  that  vessels  must 
not  be  sent  which  draw  over  seventeen  feet  of  water.  *  *  *  The  bar  is 
still  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  Mr.  Higby's  circular  proves  it.  There 
have  been  five  or  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  expended  since  the  war,  and 
still  there  is  only  a  channel  of  seventeen  feet,  as  there  was  before  the  war 
and  all  through  the  war ;  and  I  say  that  while  all  this  effort  is  going  on  for 
a  capital  of  one,  two,  or  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  buying  grain 
and  getting  foreign  agents  to  come  here  and  purchase,  it  behooves  us  to  look 
around  and  see  if  we  can't  get  a  greater  depth  of  water  at  the  delta." 

These  remarks  were  followed  by  the  statement  that  I  had  a  plan  to 
deepen  the  channel  by  dredging,  and  thought  some  deepening  could  be 
effected,  but  that  some  permanent  works  ought  to  be  put  at  Southwest  Pass 
to  preserve  the  channel.  Capt.  Henry  W.  Smith,  an  experienced  steamboat 
man,  concurred  in  my  views.  Maj.  W.  S.  Pope  said  there  ought  to  be  some 
sort  of  work  at  the  river's  mouth  similar  to  that  by  which  the  Mississippi  at 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  297 

St.  Louis  was  thrown  from  the  Illinois  to  the  Missouri  shore,  so  that  the 
current  should  be  forced  into  one  channel.  Lee  R.  Shryock,  President  of 
the  Board,  said  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  was  "  one  of  the  greatest 
barriers  to  the  commerce  of  St.  Louis,  and  to  get  rid  of  it  the  great  problem 
before  the  people  of  the  valley." 

This  was  the  first  meeting  of  a  popular  character  held  in  St.  Louis  to 
discuss  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  I  mention  it  to  show  what  our  com 
plaint  was,  and  who  were  the  volunteer  doctors.  The  remedies  proposed  in 
rather  a  crude  manner  would  have  done  some  good,  but  were  not  up  to 
what  the  case  required,  and  we  were  a  long  way  off  thirty  feet  of  water 
through  the  bar  to  the  sea.  Our  meeting  had  the  good  effect  of  eliciting 
discussion  ;  but  the  New  Orleans  editors  and  correspondents  assumed  that 
we  in  St.  Louis  could  know  nothing  about  the  river's  mouth,  and  rather 
scouted  our  pretensions.  In  reply  to  a  correspondent  of  the  New  Orleans 
Democrat,  I  wrote  in  May,  1869 : 

"  I  think  the  device  for  dredging  the  best  yet  suggested.  As  to  perma 
nent  works,  I  do  not  agree  with  either  Professor  Fontaine  or  yourself.  I 
would  not  construct  the  works  as  he  proposes  ;  nor  do  I  agree  that  the  bar 
is  to  extend  into  the  gulf  as  rapidly  as  you  state.  The  delta  has  already 
protruded  so  far  into  the  gulf,  that  the  accumulation  at  the  river's  mouth 
will  not,  I  think,  be  in  the  future  so  great  each  year  as  in  the  past.  We  are 
getting  into  deeper  water,  and  the  gulf  currents  will  carry  more  of  the  ma 
terial  away.  I  think,  therefore,  that  while  the  government  is  keeping  open 
a  channel  by  dredging,  it  would  be  well  to  have  works  going  on,  which  will 
enable  the  river  after  a  while  to  dredge  itself." 

The  assertion  in  this  paragraph  that  the  4<  gulf  currents  will  carry  more 
of  the  material  away,"  has  been  amply  verified  at  the  South  Pass  jetties ; 
and  the  remark  that  works  should  be  "going  on,  which  will  enable  the 
river  after  a  while  to  DREDGE  ITSELF,''  was  the  first  public  suggestion  of 
jetties,  by  any  citizen  of  St.  Louis,  so  far  as  I  know.  Many  of  our  people  at 
that  time  supposed  the  projected  Fort  St.  Philip  canal  was  the  only  avail 
able  means  of  getting  a  good  outlet  to  the  gulf.  The  mind  of  Mr.  Eads  was 
then  absorbed  by  the  bridge,  but  if  it  had  turned  to  the  mouth  of  the  river 
he  would  of  course  have  said  it  ought  to  be  improved  by  jetties. 

We  were  groping,  but  in  the  right  direction  ;  I  was  a  mere  dreamer,  but 
dreaming  of  things  possible,  and  interpreting  rightly  the  river's  mouth, 
although  I  had  not  then  seen  it.  I  was  not  disturbed  by  the  ridicule  cast 
on  Capt.  Smith  and  myself  by  the  New  Orleans  papers  in  1869,  and  I  now 
enjoy  the  recollection  of  it,  as  I  look  at  the  actual  results  at  the  South  Pass 
bar. 

Formerly  the  grain  trade  of  St.  Louis  was  mainly  confined  to  local  wants 
and  the  markets  of  the  Southern  states.  But  little  grain  was  exported. 
Supplies  came  in  sacks  by  the  rivers,  and  were  unloaded  on  the  wharf.  As 
railroads  extended  the  volume  of  business  increased  and  the  mode  of  hand- 


298  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

ling  changed.  The  first  grain  elevator  at  St.  Louis  was  completed  in  1865. 
L.  J.  Higby  completed  an  elevator  at  New  Orleans  in  1868.  Shipments  of 
grain  "  in  bulk  "  had  begun.  George  H.  Rea,  Barton  Able,  Joab  Lawrence, 
Conrad  Fink,  George  D.  Capen,  and  their  associates,  had  in  1866  organized 
the  Mississippi  Valley  Transportation  Company,  to  run  tow  boats  and 
barges  south  from  St.  Louis,  carrying  grain  in  bulk,  and  merchandise.  It 
was  an  innovation  in  river  craft,  and  the  President,  Capt.  Rea,  had  a  hard 
struggle  to  maintain  it,  as  there  was  no  good  outlet  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  and  the  foreign  grain  trade  grew  slowly.  But  by  indomitable  per 
severance,  the  "barge  line"  has  lived  and  grown  until  it  has  now,  under 
the  presidency  of  Mr.  Henry  C.  Haarstick,  thirteen  powerful  tow  boats  and 
ninety-eight  barges,  the  latter  capable  of  carrying  on  an  average  1 ,400  tons 
each !  As  a  tow  boat  can  on  a  good  stage  of  water  take  down  five  barges, 
there  may  be  7,000  tons  of  grain  in  a  single  tow — enough  to  load  ten  railroad 
trains  of  700  tons  each !  The  Company  has  its  own  elevator  at  Belmont,  be 
low  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  to  which  grain  is  taken  by  rail  when  ice  in  the 
river  above  Cairo  suspends  navigation  from  St.  Louis  ;  and  it  also  controls 
the  elevators  at  New  Orleans.  The  South  Pass  j  etties  now  give  a  grand  out 
let  to  the  sea,  and  the  river  route  regulates  charges  on  shipments  of  grain 
from  the  west  to  the  Atlantic  side  and  to  Europe.  The  saving  to  western 
agriculture  is  counted  by  millions  of  dollars  yearly,  and  the  annual  grain 
trade  of  St.  Louis  has  risen  to  nearly  fifty  million  bushels.  Are  not  the 
barge  men  benefactors  ? 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  299 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

BOWLES'  BOOKS  — RISE  IN  THE  GREAT  SALT  LAKE  — THE  PHENOMENON  EX 
PLAINED — MAN  AND  NATURE  — HUMAN  ACTION  AND  CLIMATIC  CONDITIONS 
— PACIFIC  RAILROADS— CLIMATE  OF  THE  PLAINS  EXPOUNDED — RAINFALL 
IN  THE  GROWING  SEASONS— TREE  GROWTH  IN  THE  DESERT— KANSAS  A 
FOOD  PRODUCER — INDUSTRIAL  AGENT  OF  KANSAS  PACIFIC  RAILWAY. 

Two  interesting  books  had  appeared,  one  entitled  "  Across  the  Conti 
nent,"  the  other  "  Our  New  West,"  both  from  the  pen  of  Samuel  Bowles, 
editor  of  the  Springfield  Republican  (Massachusetts).  Mr.  Bowles  had 
made  the  overland  trip  to  the  Pacific  before  the  railroad  was  completed, 
and  told  in  a  charming  manner  of  the  strange  things  he  had  seen  and  heard. 
In  one  of  his  volumes  he  had  noted  the  rise  of  the  water  in  the  great  Salt 
Lake  of  Utah,  and  stated  that  n*>  explanation  of  the  "  phenomenon  "  had 
been  given.  That  statement  changed  the  course  of  my  life. 

Queer,  was  it?  Well,  no;  it  was  natural  enough.  In  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Bowles,  written  in  December,  1869,  I  undertook  to  explain  the  Salt  Lake 
phenomenon,  reasoning  to  this  effect : 

1st.  That,  before  the  advent  of  the  Mormons,  the  valley  in  which  Salt 
Lake  is  situated  was  (except  the  lake  itself)  a  vast  area  of  dry  and  arid  sur 
face,  the  streams  running  in  confined  channels  to  the  lake  ;  and  that,  after 
rainfall,  the  moisture  of  the  surface-earth  was  rapidly  evaporated  and  car 
ried  by  the  winds  out  of  the  valley,  leaving  a  heated  atmosphere  over  the 
valley  and  the  lake,  rapidly  absorbing  part  of  the  lake's  waters,  to  be  in 
turn  carried  away  as  vapor  to  be  condensed  elsewhere. 

2d.  That,  after  the  advent  of  the  Mormons,  their  system  of  irrigation  par 
tially  changed  the  conditions,  spreading  water  from  the  streams  over  large 
areas,  to  sink  into  the  earth,  from  which  it  would  be  slowly  evaporated,  as 
well  as  from  the  organs  of  the  vegetation  due  to  the  changed  conditions ; 
and  that  this  persistent  evaporation  would  produce  a  condition  of  humidity 
in  the  atmosphere  greater  than  existed  previously. 

3d.  That  while  the  increased  measure  of  atmospheric  humidity  might  be 
imperceptible  to  the  senses,  or  possibly  not  determinable  by  instruments, 
it  might  yet  be  sufficient  to  check  evaporation  from  the  lake,  and  thus  pro 
mote  the  increase  of  its  waters. 


300  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  TEAKS. 

4th.  That  the  increased  vegetation  in  the  valley  had  the  effect  not  only 
of  increasing  the  atmospheric  humidity,  but  also  of  modifying  the  tempera 
ture  of  the  air,  thus  checking  its  tendency  to  ascend  and  rapidly  carry  its 
vapor  out  of  the  valley. 

Mr.  Bowles  must  have  been  edified  by  this  exposition,  as  he  published 
my  letter  in  his  excellent  paper.  But  was  I  right  ?  For  fourteen  years  I 
have  not  learned  whether  the  lake  has  so  acted  as  to  explode  my  theories. 
In  order  to  see  how  near  right  I  had  been  in  the  volunteer  explanation  to 
Mr.  Bowles,  I  at  once  began  to  read  all  the  books  I  could  get  that  were 
likely  to  enlighten  me,  and  among  others  I  read  George  P.  Marsh's  book, 
"  Man  and  Nature,"  which  has  many  passages  showing  how  human  action 
has  apparently  modified  climatic  conditions,  and  mostly  for  the  worse,  in 
many  parts  of  the  earth's  surface.  By  this  course  of  inquiry  my  attention 
became  directed  to  the  great  western  plains,  and  to  questions  connected 
with  their  possible  usefulness. 

The  Union  Pacific  Railroad  had  already  been  built  across  the  plains  from 
Omaha  to  Ogden,  connecting  there  with  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  of  Cal 
ifornia.  The  Kansas  Pacific  Railway  was  in  operation  to  Kit  Carson,  150 
miles  east  of  Denver,  and  would  reach  Denver  in  a  few  months. 

An  examination  of  the  reports  of  the  civil  engineers  of  the  Kansas  Pacific 
Railway  satisfied  me  that  they  had  underrated  the  value  of  the  country 
along  the  road  ;  and  in  February,  1870,  I  published  an  article  on  the  "  Cli 
mate  of  the  Plains,"  in  which  certain  facts  in  regard  to  the  seasons  of  rain 
fall  were  for  the  first  time  stated  in  the  ptfblic  journals.  A  condensation  of 
that  article  is  here  given,  the  reader  to  consider  himself  perusing  it  in  1870, 
when  its  suggestions  were  new : 

"  The  progress  of  settlements  in  Kansas  has  already  taken  a  large  slice 
off"  the  *  desert '  of  our  geographies,  and  has  spread  diversified  agriculture 
over  the  borders  of  the  buffalo  range.  Can  the  march  be  on  to  Denver  ?  In 
view  of  the  fact  that  settlers  are  rapidly  occupying  the  more  favored  parts 
of  the  public  domain,  and  that  the  demand  for  lands  will,  at  an  early  day, 
press  closely  on  the  supply,  this  is  an  interesting  question,  not  to  railway 
managers  only,  but  to  humanity.  In  thirty  or  forty  years  we  shall  have 
one  hundred  millions  of  people,  and  they  must  have  homes. 

"  The  questions  are  not  of  soil  but  of  climate.  As  a  rule,  the  plains  are 
not  sterile  ;  they  are  only,  comparatively  speaking,  arid.  With  rain  enough, 
production  is  assured  ;  and  the  proportion  of  unproductive  land  would  be 
less  than  is  generally  supposed.  Hence  it  is  worth  while  to  inquire  whether 
there  is  not  a  better  supply  of  moisture  than  has  been  believed.  One  grand 
fact  in  regard  to  the  rainfall  over  all  the  territory  between  Fort  Leaven- 
worth  and  the  mountains  has  heretofore  attracted  little  or  no  attention. 
Prof.  J.  W.  Foster's  interesting  work  on  the  '  Mississippi  Valley,'  speaking 
of  the  'moisture  which  fertilizes  the  continent,'  says: 

"  *  The  rains  which  water  the  Atlantic  slope  are  equally  distributed,  the 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEAKS. 


301 


variations  between  thb  four  seasons  being  very  slight.  Those  which  water 
the  Mississippi  Valley  are  unequally  distributed,  those  of  spring  and  sum 
mer  being  greatly  in  excess  ;  a  fact  which  has  been  overlooked  by  most  me 
teorologists  in  reference  to  the  geographical  distribution  of  plants.' 

"  Prof.  Foster  illustrates  this  distribution  by  a  table,  embracing  New 
York,  Ann  Arbor,  Fort  Leavenworth,  Fort  Kiley,  Fort  Laramie,  Fort 
Yuma,  and  San  Francisco,  and  shows  that  as  we  pass  westward  from  the 
Atlantic  the  inequality  increases  until  we  reach  the  Sierra  Nevada.  He 
says: 

"  '  Contrasting  the  two  stations,  New  York  and  Fort  Laramie,  it  will  be 
seen  that  on  the  seaboard  about  45  per  cent,  of  the  yearly  precipitation  oc 
curs  during  the  fall  and  winter,  while  on  the  plains  only  25  per  cent,  occurs 
during  that  period  ;  and  that,  while  on  the  seaboard  the  precipitation  is 
nearly  uniform  during  the  four  seasons,  three-fourths  of  the  precipitation 
on  the  plains  occurs  during  the  spring  and  summer  months.' 

"  The  fact  to  which  our  attention  is  thus  called  involves  millions  >of 
wealth  and  an  inestimable  sum  of  human  happiness.  The  excess  of  precipi 
tation  in  spring  and  summer  will  give  thousands  of  farms  to  industrious 
settlers  in  regions  where  the  total  annual  rainfall  seems  too  limited  for 
agriculture ;  whereas,  if  the  precipitation  on  the  plains  were  as  uniform 
throughout  the  year  as  on  the  seaboard,  vast  areas  now  filling  up  with  intel 
ligent  and  enterprising  people  would  be  practically  uninhabitable,  unless 
artesian  wells  could  be  extensively  used  for  irrigation,  or  by  some  miracu 
lous  change  the  amount  of  annual  precipitation  could  be  greatly  increased. 
As  the  rains  are  now  distributed,  the  grasses  and  many  of  the  cultivated 
annual  plants  enjoy  a  season  of  growth  and  vigor  that  brings  themto  per 
fection. 

"  The  following  table  of  stations  in  or  near  the  latitude  of  St.  Louis  gives 
the  precipitation  in  the  different  seasons : 

MEAN  YEARLY  RAINFALL  IN  INCHES. 


STATIONS. 

si 
a 
•3 

ft 

CO 

Summer. 

Autumn. 

Winter. 

FH 
03 
<U 

>* 

Washington  City  

10.45 

10.52 

10.16 

11.07 

42.20 

Cincinnati         .            .                       . 

12  14 

1370 

9  90 

11  25 

46  89 

St.  Louis  

32.30 

14.14 

8.94 

6.94 

42,32 

Fort  Leavenworth  

7.97 

11.24 

7.33 

2,75 

30.29 

Fort  Hiley  

7.91 

7.15 

5.58 

1.26 

21.90 

"This  table  shows  that  the  rainfall  of  the  four  seasons  at  Washington 
varies  less  than  an  inch,  and  that  the  autumn  and  winter  rains  are  slightly 
in  excess  of  those  of  spring  and  summer.  But  when  we  get  as  far  west  as 
Cincinnati  we  find  that  55.1  per  cent,  of  the  yearly  rainfall  occurs  in  the 


302  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

spring  and  summer,  and  only  44.9  in  autumn  and  winter.  Moving  on  west 
ward,  we  find  the  proportion  and  amount  of  spring  and  summer  rains  at 
the  other  stations  in  the  table  are  as  follows : 

"At  St.  Louis,  62.5  per  cent,  of  the  yearly  fall,  or  26.44  inches  ;  at  Fort 
Leavenworth,  66.7  per  cent,  of  the  yearly  fall,  or  20.21  inches  ;  at  Fort  Riley, 
68.8  per  cent  of  the  yearly  fall,  or  15.00  inches ;  — showing  a  persistent  and 
remarkable  increase  of  the  percentage  in  spring  and  summer  as  we  go 
westward. 

"The  amount  of  annual  precipitation  becomes  of  less  importance  when 
we  thus  find  the  growing  seasons  so  well  supplied.  The  arrangement  is 
worthy  of  admiration  for  its  beauty,  and  of  gratitude  for  its  beneficence.  Its 
results  are,  that,  while  the  annual  rainfall  on  the  plains  may  not  be  enough 
to  sustain  arborescent  vegetation  in  natural  forests,  it  is  yet  enough,  coming 
as  it  does  in  spring  and  summer,  to  nourish  and  mature  the  grasses  and  the 
annual  plants  of  agriculture.  The  plains  thus  become  habitable,  and  even 
without  forests  may  have  a  future  of  population  and  plenty.  But  there  is 
ground  for  the  belief  that  success  in  tree  growth,  in  artificial  plantations, 
may  be  within  our  reach. 

"  Forest  growth  on  the  plains  of  Kansas  and  Colorado,  at  the  hand  of 
man,  may  seem  to  many  persons  too  remote,  if  not  too  chimerical,  for  prac 
tical  men.  ^But,  to  the  same  class  of  minds,  the  railway  itself,  and  the  won 
derful  developments  already  witnessed,  were  impossibilities.  Intelligent 
men  know  that  the  results  already  won  on  the  sand  dunes  and  plains  of 
France,  Germany,  and  other  parts  of  Europe,  as  well  as  in  Algeria,  give 
assurance  that  a  great  deal  may,  in  a  comparatively  short  time,  be  done  to 
clothe  the  '  desert '  and,  perhaps,  to  modify  its  climate. 

"Turning  to  the  table  again,  it  appears  that  Fort  Riley  has  three-fifths 
as  much  spring  and  summer  rain  as  St.  Louis,  where  we  have,  as  a  mean  of 
the  seasons,  more  than  is  needed.  "Plant  growth  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort 
Riley  is  known  to  have  the  average  success  of  any  other  productive  region 
in  the  temperate  zone. 

"It  is  to  be  regretted  that  no  exact  data  is  extant  in  regard  to  rainfall 
along  the  line  of  the  Kansas  railway  between  Fort  Riley  and  Denver.  We 
have  no  rain  gauge  record,  nor  even  careful  estimates ;  nothing,  in  fact, 
more  definite  than  the  journals  of  Fremont  in  1844.  These  journals,  penned 
long  before  there  was  any  thought  of  the  railway  taking  its  present  line, 
leave  on  the  mind  no  idea  of  rainless  desolation,  in  summer,  along  the  Smoky 
Hill  river.  On  the  contrary,  the  warmth  of  coloring  in  Fremont's  pictures 
is  in  striking  contrast  to  the  sober  drab  in  which  the  Naturalist  of  the  rail 
way  has  painted  the  whole  scene.  Certainly,  if  the  railway  reports  can  be 
charged  with  any  exaggeration,  it  comes  in  the  unusual  shape  of  deprecia 
tion  rather  than  an  overestimate  of  the  country. 

"  Further  and  more  particular  data  are  very  desirable,  but  are  hardly 
attainable  in  time  to  anticipate  the  advent  of  settlements.  The  railway 
pushes  on  during  even  the  winter  months.  The  same  scanty  precipitation 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  303 

that  is  in  winter  so  favorable  to  live  stock  (with  but  scanty  shelter)  is  also 
propitious  to  railroad  building,  and  there  will  be  settlements  for  pastoral 
industry,  if  not  for  tillage,  scattered  along  the  line  from  Sheridan  to  Denver 
before  the  rain  gauge  can  have  time  to  give  the  record  of  more  than  a  sea~ 
son  or  two. 

"Meantime  it  is  pleasant  to  reflect  that  the  phenomena  of  Nature  are 
daily  becoming  better  understood.  We  at  this  day  enjoy  broader  views 
than  past  generations  of  the  use  to  be  made  of  the  Great  Plains.  Even  the 
grand  ideas  of  Wm.  Gilpin  in  regard  to  the  "  American  Pastoral  Domain" 
are  short  of  the  value  of  that  immense  region  between  the  west  line  of  Mis 
souri  and  the  mountains  of  Colorado.  We  now  see  and  understand  that  a 
climate  assuring  the  spring  and  summer  growth  of  grass  may  enable  us  to 
grow  the  cereals  without  irrigation,  although  the  annual  fall  of  rain,  stated 
apart  from  the  reasons  of  its  occurrence,  seems  inadequate  to  this  result. 

"  It  may  be  replied  to  this  that  in  New  Mexico  irrigation,  as  a  rule,  is 
essential.  True  ;  but  the  conditions  there  are  not  the  same  as  on  the  plains. 
New  Mexico  is  traversed  by  mountain  ranges,  which  attract  the  rains  from 
her  cultivated  portions.  The  precipitation  at  Santa  Fe  is  stated  at  19.83 
inches  for  the  year  ;  2.83  inches  in  spring  ;  8.90  in  summer  ;  6.02  in  autumn, 
and  2.08  in  winter.  Spring  and  summer  thus  appear  to  have  59.0  per  cent., 
and  summer  and  autumn  75.2  per  cent,  of  the  yearly  amount.  But  the 
spring  rains  of  New  Mexico  are  only  about  one -third  of  those  at  Fort 
Blley  ;  and  the  8.90  inches  of  summer  rain  in  New  Mexico  come  principally 
in  August,  too  late  for  the  farmer.  In  spring  alone  Fort  Kiley  has  four- 
tenths  of  the  annual  rainfall  of  New  Mexico,  and  in  spring  and  summer 
together  nearly  eight-tenths,  or  15.06  inches  for  spring  and  summer,  against 
10.89  inches  in  New  Mexico  for  this  period.  Hence  agriculture,  in  the  latter 
region,  where  evaporation  is  more  rapid  than  on  the  plains,  must  call  irriga 
tion  to  its  aid.  The  conditions  are  similar  west  of  Fort  Lyon,  in  the  valleys 
of  the  Upper  Arkansas  and  its  tributaries. 

"It  may  be  stated,  as  a  fact,  that  experience,  for  one-third  the  distance 
from  the  Missouri  river  to  Denver,  justifies  the  expectation  that  wheat,  corn 
oats,  and  other  annual  products  of  agriculture,  brought  to  maturity  by  spring 
and  summer  rains,  will  be  grown  without  irrigation,  all  the  way  from  their 
present  western  limit  in  Kansas  to  the  upper  forks  of  the  Smoky  Hill  river. 

"Within  the  influence  of  the  mountains  the  precipitation  is  less  than 
farther  out  on  the  plains  ;  and,  therefore,  as  we  ascend  the  slope  of  the  foot 
hills  the  available  streams  must  be  used  for  irrigation. 

"  The  problem  of  constant  water  supply  for  domestic  uses,  for  live  stock, 
etc.,  on  some  parts  of  the  plains,  is  not  without  difficulties.  The  railway 
will  solve  it,  to  some  extent,  in  providing  for  its  own  necessities. 

"To  many  persons  it  may  seem  a  bold  proposition  that  the  climate  of 
Kansas  will  enable  her  to  become  one  of  our  principal  food  producing  states ; 
but  its  truth  is  being  so  rapidly  demonstrated  that  closet  theory  is  hardly 


304  ^  NOTES  TAKEN  IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

in  place.    Facts  are  beginning  to  tell  the  tale  with  more  effect  than  phil 
osophy. 

"  In  this  connection  the  resemblance  of  Kansas  to  a  part  of  the  world  as 
venerable  for  age  as  she  is  charming  in  youth,  is  worthy  of  notice.  Some 
time  since  I  called  the  attention  of  Gen.  Palmer  to  the  similarity  in  climate 
of  the  western  plains  to  the  great  wheat  producing  region  of  Russia,  drain 
ing  into  the'Black  Sea.  I  find  that  the  work  of  Prof.  Foster  recognizes  in  a 
very  pointed  manner  this  similarity.  He  has  received  from  a  gentleman  in 
Chicago,  whose  early  life  was  passed  in  that  part  of  Europe,  an  elaborate 
paper  on  Southern  Russia,  showing  that  nearly  400,000  square  miles  of  that 
region  are  suited  to  wheat  growing.  The  Professor  gives  a  description  of 
the  grain  producing  *  steppes,'  their  soil,  climate,  tree-growth,  and  streams ; 
and  it  is  remarkable  how  well  that  description  applies  to  Western  Kansas. 
The  annual  rainfall  in  the  wheat  region  of  Southern  Russia  is  surprisingly 
like  that  of  the  plains,  both  in  amount  and  seasons  of  occurrence ;  and  the 
similarity  of  the  natural  vegetation  of  the  two  regions  is  at  once  very  re 
markable  and  very  encouraging." 

In  effect,  this  article  on  the  climate  of  the  plains  asserted  a  discovery. 
It  presented  in  a  new  aspect  the  vast  region  east  of  the  mountains  which 
had  been  reputed  worthless,  except  for  very  limited  grazing  resources.  If 
the  assumptions  of  the  article  were  only  partially  well  founded,  they  opened 
a  prospect  of  reducing  to  usefulness  a  portion  at  least  of  the  "  desert."  But 
how  were  my  theories  to  be  tested  ? 

In  the  spring  of  1870,  I  visited  Kit  Carson,  then  the  terminus  of  the  rail 
way.  At  Salina,  Kansas,  187  miles  west  of  Kansas  City,  I  was  assured  that 
all  the  country  beyond  was  impracticable  desert,  as  the  "  hot  winds  "  pre 
vented  any  cultivation ;  but  I  returned  to  St.  Louis  with  a  notion  that 
something  might  be  done  on  the  plains  to  test  if  nofc  prove  their  usefulness, 
and  I  proposed  to  the  directors  of  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railway  that  I  would 
undertake  the  work  of  investigation  and  experiment.  This  was  a  big  pro 
posal,  especially  in  comparison  with  the  salary  attending  its  acceptance.  It 
in  fact  meant,  that  I  must  be  in  some  measure  a  geologist,  a  botanist,  a 
farmer,  a  meteorologist,  a  horticulturist,  and  a  philosopher  general,  in  order 
to  deal  with  all  questions  which  might  arise,  and  to  test  by  experiment  the 
capabilities  of  the  country.  Besides  it  was  understood  by  my  thrifty  em 
ployers,  that  in  my  novel  office  as  their  "  INDUSTRIAL  AGENT  "  I  must  not 
hide  the  light  of  my  opinions  under  any  bushel,  but  should  let  the  world 
know  what  was  going  on,  as  a  means  of  advertising  the  road !  If  I  should 
fail  in  proving  the  wealth  of  the  country,  I  could  at  least  demonstrate  that 
it  had  a  railway  in  it !  No-  such  mission  had  ever  been  undertaken  before, 
or  probably  ever  will  be  again. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  305 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

EXPERIMENTAL  PLANTATIONS  —  THE  PLOW  ON  THE  PLAINS — BOS  AMERICANTJS 
IN  SIGHT  — BEAM  BROKEN  —  WAITING  FOR  MOTIVE  POWER  —  RAILWAY 
OPENED  TO  DENVER  —  SPLENDID  EXCURSION  —  SCIENCE  AND  LABOR  UNITE 
AT  POND  CREEK — FIRST  WINTER  GRAINS  IN  WESTERN  KANSAS — LETTER  TO 
PROF.  HENRY — CLIMATIC  EXPOSITION — REPORT  TO  DR.  HAYDEN — ADDRESS 
ON  TREE  CULTURE— CONGRESS  PASSES  AN  ACT— BIG  IDEAS  — A  GENERAL 
IZATION  ON  STORMS. 

In  1870,  settlements  extended  to  Saline  county,  Kansas,  two  hundred 
miles  west  of  Kansas  City,  with  a  few  scattered  farms  beyond,  in  Ellsworth 
county,  near  Fort  Harker.  The  buffalo  then  pastured  within  sight  of  the 
fort,  having  their  main  summer  range  across  the  next  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  of  the  railway ;  and  they  were  often  so  numerous  near  the  track  that 
passengers  could  shoot  them  from  the  cars.  I  decided  to  begin  my  experi 
ments  in  the  buffalo  range,  and  selected  three  stations  for  the  little  patches 
of  a  few  acres  each,  which  I  gravely  called  "  plantations." 


Stations. 

West  from  Kansas  City. 

Above  sea  level. 

Wilson  

240  miles 

1  586  feet 

Ellis      

302      " 

2019    " 

Pond  Creek    

422      '  '     ' 

3075    " 

The  first  essay  in  the  buffalo  pasture  was  not  fortunate.  With  a  large 
prairie  plow,  suited  to  Illinois  or  Missouri,  and  a  hired  team  of  oxen,  a  trial 
was  made  at  Wilson  in  the  solid  soil  of  the  Great  Plains.  Instead  of  break 
ing  the  sod  we  broke  the  plow !  Bos  Americanus,  in  full  view  on  the  Smoky 
Hills,  seemed  to  be  regarding  us  with  a  languid  interest,  as  if  his  ancestral 
acres  were  in  no  immediate  danger  from  our  operations.  The  prairie  dogs 
eame  out  of  their  burrows  and  derisively  yelped  at  us.  That  kind  of  plow, 
evidently,  was  too  weak  for  the  desert. 

Arranging  to  repair  the  plow,  I  decided  to  wait  till  the  grade  to  Denver 
should  be  completed,  and  get  mules  owned  by  the  Eailway  Company,  as 
with  them  the  work  could  probably  be  done  with  less  profanity  on  the  part 
of  the  drivers  than  with  hired  oxen.  In  the  meantime  I  could  find  occupa- 


306  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

tion  in  studying  the  country ;  and  this  was  by  no  means  a  profitless  arrange 
ment.  For,  certainly,  a  man  going  out  into  the  waste  places  to  reform  a 
continent,  and  teach  everybody  something  that  nobody  ever  knew  before, 
might  well  be  permitted  to  learn  something  himself  to  begin  with  ! 

The  railroad  operatives  —  those  useful  men  who  were  trusted  with  en 
gines  and  trains  and  people's  lives,  but  who  had  placed  no  very  exalted 
value  on  the  plains  for  any  other  use  than  to  grow  buffalo  beef  —  had  no 
confidence  in  my  projected  work,  but  thought  it  all  "  (blank)  nonsense."  I 
sometimes  overheard  their  opinions,  not  complimentary  to  my  views  and 
projects,  and  of  doubtful  flavor  as  to  myself,  "  I  don't  reckon  that  old  chap 
believes  anything  will  grow  out  here,"  one  would  say  to  his  chum,  "but 
like  enough  he  has  a  nice  berth,  anyway!"  They  seemed  to  have  as  little 
faith  in  my  integrity  of  intention  as  the  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Davis,  had  in 
the  integrity  of  the  gentlemen  who  in  1856  proposed  to  improve  the  naviga 
tion  of  the  Mississippi  under  contract. 

The  General  Superintendent  of  the  Railway,  Col.  Adna  Anderson,  was 
in  full  harmony  with  me  as  to  the  necessity  and  propriety  of  my  mission, 
and  granted  me  all  the  facilities  which  the  financial  condition  of  the  Com 
pany  warranted. 

Passengers  on  the  trains  were  decorous,  but,  I  think,  rather  incredulous. 
They  would  look  as  if  they  thought  my  views  would  be  very  sound  —  if  I 
could  only  prove  them  by  tests  of  climate  and  soil ;  but  the  novelty  of  the 
enterprise  attracted  their  good  wishes. 

On  the  1st  of  September,  1870,  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railway  was  completed 
from  Kansas  City  and  Leavenworth  to  Denver,  having  from  Denver,  by  the 
Denver  Pacific  Railway,  a  connection  through  to  the  Union  Pacific  to  Chey 
enne  ;  and  our  continental  line  was  thus  an  accomplished  fact. 

The  opening  of  the  Railway  to  the  mountains  was  recognized  by  its 
President,  Mr.  John  D.  Perry,  and  by  the  directors,  as  an  event  of  great 
importance  to  the  American  people  as  well  as  to  the  Railway  Company ; 
and  it  was  accordingly  distinguished  by  a  grand  excursion  from  Kan 
sas  City  through  to  Denver  and  Cheyenne,  in  a  train  of  nine  new  Pull 
man  cars.  This  was  the  finest  train  of  cars,  Mr.  Pullman  said,  that  had 
up  to  that  time  ever  been  put  together  anywhere  in  the  world.  The 
unique  pleasure  trip,  unequalled  by  any  preceding  railway  jaunt,  occu 
pied  several  days,  including  stage  coach  visits  to  Idaho  Springs  and  George 
town,  in  Colorado,  not  then  reached  by  rail.  The  excursionists  were  railroad 
magnates,  cabinet  ministers,  members  of  Congress,  state  officers,  profess 
ional  gentlemen,  editors  and  correspondents  of  public  journals,  merchants, 
manufacturers,  and  others  ; — an  assortment  seldom  equalled  of  brains,  cul 
ture  and  business  experience.  They  saw  buffaloes  and  antelopes,  coyotes 
and  prairie  dogs,  but  I  had  no  plowed  ground  or  farms  to  show  them,  as  I 
had  not  obtained  the  mules  to  draw  the  reconstructed  plow. 

At  length,  on  the  12th  of  September,  the  mules  arrived  at  Pond  Creek, 
near  Fort  Wallace,,  together  with  two  Irish  laborers,  to  begin  the  important 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  307 

work  of  demonstrating  the  usefulness  of  the  great  plains.  Never  was  so  big 
a  work  begun  with  so  little  parade,  or  means  so  humble ;  but  Science  and 
Labor  (combined  in  the  two  Hibernians  and  myself)  were  united  in  the 
desert,  and  we  sowed  our  experimental  grains — wheat,  rye,  and  barley — at 
Pond  Creek,  September  28th  ;  at  Ellis,  October  20th ;  and  at  Wilson,  Novem 
ber  llth,  1870.  This  was  the  first  seed  of  winter  grains  ever  planted  west  of 
Ellsworth  county,  in  Kansas.  We  sowed  grass  seeds  too,  and  planted  some 
seeds  of  trees.  The  work  of  redeeming  the  domain  of  the  buffalo  was  begun. 
Forget  not  the  date,  Oh  Learned  and  Wise  Reader  !  It  was  1870. 

While  at  Pond  Creek,  in  September,  I  wrote  to  Professor  Joseph  Henry, 
Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  a  letter  that  he  published  in  the 
Annual  Report  of  the  Institute  for  1870.  I  said  to  the  distinguished  meteor 
ologist,  that  I  had  been  on  the  plains  nearly  all  the  time  from  early  in  May 
till  September,  and  that  there  had  been  much  dry  weather,  but  not  one  day 
without  clouds  ;  no  day  on  which  the  sun  would  rise  clear  and  roll  along  a 
cloudless  canopy  to  the  w«st.  There  had  always  been  humidity  enough  to 
form  clouds  at  the  proper  height,  and  on  many  days  they  would  be  seen 
defining,  by  their  flat  bottoms,  the  exact  line  where  the  condensation 
became  sufficient  to  render  the  vapor  visible.  The  sun  would  be  partially 
obscured  only  at  intervals ;  the  condensation  not  being  of  a  character  materi 
ally  to  lessen  the  effect  of  his  rays  in  giving  us  heat  and  light,  until  in  the 
after  part  of  the  day,  when  appearances  of  a  storm  were  apt  to  present  them 
selves  in  some  part  of  the  heavens  ;  only,  however,  too  often  to  pass  away 
without  giving  us  the  desired  shower.  I  concluded  from  all  this  that  abun 
dant  moisture  had  floated  over  the  plains  to  have  given  us  a  great  deal  more 
rain  than  would  have  been  desirable  if  it  had  been  precipitated.  Sometimes 
a  storm  would  be  seen  to  gather  near  the  horizon,  and  we  could  see  the  rain 
pending  from  the  clouds  like  a  fringe,  hanging  apparently  in  mid-air,  un 
able  to  reach  the  expectant  earth.  The  rain  stage  of  condensation  had  been 
reached  above,  but  the  descending  shower  was  apparently  revaporized,  and 
thus  arrested. 

In  a  moderately  calm  day — for  our  calms  were  only  moderate  in  that  airy 
region— I  had  observed  little  columns  of  dust  to  arise,  generally  scattered 
in  all  directions.  These  usually,  if  not  always,  coincided  with  mirage  ;  not 
that  they  appeared«in  the  mirage,  but  coincided  in  the  time  of  their  appear 
ance.  The  mirage,  however,  very  often  appeared  on  days  too  windy  for  the 
little  columns  to  be  formed ;  they  being  only  whirlwinds  rendered  visible 
by  the  dust  taken  up.  Within  forty-eight  hours  after  the  little  column 
phenomena,  I  had  noticed  that  the  wind  was  apt  to  be  coming  strongly  from 
the  northward,  laden  with  a  mist  or  scud  that  sometimes  reached  the  dig 
nity  of  rain.  I  regarded  the  little  columns  as  electrical  in  their  origin. 
They  could  not  be  due  to  currents  of  air  meeting  and  whirling  round  each 
other,  as  philosophers  used  to  teach  us,  because  there  was  little  or  no  move 
ment  of  the  atmosphere  except  in  the  columns  themselves.  The  fact  that 


308  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

storms  occurred  soon  after  their  appearance  sustained  the  supposition  of 
their  electrical  origin. 

The  changes  of  wind  were  often  very  sudden  from  southward,  the  pre 
vailing  point  in  summer,  to  all  points,  but  mainly  to  the  north.  Sometimes 
this  change  was  observed  during  the  progress  of  a  rainstorm,  and  appeared 
to  be  due  to  a  local  or  limited  cyclone ;  but  the  difference  in  temperature 
between  the  south  and  north  winds  seemed  to  forbid  the  cyclone  theory.  I 
could  not  understand  how  a  circuit  of  a  few  hundred  miles  in  the  heated 
prairie  should  so  cool  a  current  of  air  that  had  only  whirled  by  us  a  short 
time  before.  If  we  reject  the  cyclone  theory,  we  must  suppose  parallel  but 
opposite  currents  in  streaks. 

On  the  15th  of  July,  a  fine  example  of  this  sudden  change  of  direction 
and  temperature  in  the  wind  was  witnessed.  A  storm  arose,  with  lightning 
in  the  west,  the  southwest,  and  the  northwest.  The  railway  train  was  go 
ing  eastward  at  the  distance  of  about  325  miles  from  Kansas  City.  We  were 
soon  enveloped  in  the  storm  ;  rain  and  wind  &o  strong  from  the  north  that 
the  wheels  of  the  cars  could  be  felt  grating  their  flanges  on  the  south  rail, 
and  the  rain  drops,  striking  the  end  windows  of  the  car,  ran  across  in  a  true 
horizontal  line.  In  a  few  minutes  the  temperature  had  fallen  so  low  as  to 
be  uncomfortable ;  but  in  a  run  of  not  over  ten  miles  we  were  again  in  the 
warm  winds  usual  at  that  season,  and  these,  by  contrast,  seemed  to  be  the 
hot  winds  sometimes  experienced.  These  hot  winds  were  not,  so  far  as  I 
had  observed,  apt  to  be  constant  in  one  place  for  any  considerable  length  of 
time ;  they  would  strike  your  face  suddenly,  and  in  perhaps  a  minute  be 
gone.  They  seemed  to  run  along  in  streaks,  or  ovenfulls,  with  the  winds  of 
ordinary  (but  rather  high)  temperature.  They  did  not  begin  till  in  July  as 
a  general  rule  and  were  over  by  September  1st,  or  perhaps  by  August  loth. 
Their  origin  I  supposed  to  be,  of  course,  in  heated  regions  south  or  south 
west  ;  but  their  peculiar  occurrence,  so  capricious  and  often  so  brief,  I  could 
not  explain  to  myself  satisfactorily. 

I  had  no  rain-gauge,  but  had  remarked  that  the  season  of  1870,  after 
about  the  15th  of  July,  in  those  distant  plains,  had  given  us  rain  enough  to 
make  beautifully  verdant  the  spots  in  the  prairie  burned  off  during  the 
heated  term  early  in  July.  From  Kit  Carson  eastward  the  rains  had  been, 
perhaps,  exceptionally  abundant.  All  through  the  summer  we  had  had 
dew  occasionally,  and  it  had  been  remarked  that  buffalo  meat  had  been 
more  difficult  of  preservation  than  formerly — facts  indicative  of  humidity  in 
the  atmosphere  even  when  but  little  rainfall  was  witnessed.  Turnips  sown 
in  August  would  have  made  a  crop  at  Pond  Creek,  422  miles  west  of  Mis 
souri  and  about  3,200  feet  above  sea  level.  Facts  such  as  these  seemed  to 
sustain  the  popular  persuasion  in  Kansas  that  a  climatic  change  was  taking 
place,  promoted  by  the  spread  of  settlements  westwardly ;  breaking  up  por 
tions  of  the  prairie  soil ;  covering  the  earth  with  plants  that  shaded  the 
ground  more  than  the  short  grasses,  thus  checking  or  modifying  the  heat 
from  the  earth's  surface,  &c.  The  fact  was  also  noted,  that,  even  where  the 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  309 

prairie  soil  was  not  disturbed,  the  short  buffalo-grass  disappeared  as  the 
"frontier"  extended  westwardly,  and  its  place  was  taken  by  grasses  and 
other  herbage  of  taller  growth.  That  this  change  in  the  clothing  of  the 
plains,  if  sufficiently  extensive,  might  have  some  modifying  influence  on 
the  climate  I  did  not  dispute ;  but  whether  the  change  had  already  spread 
over  a  large  enough  area,  and  whether  the  apparently  or  really  wetter  sea 
sons  might  not  be  only  part  of  a  cycle,  were  unsettled  questions. 

The  civil  engineers  of  the  railway  (in  1870)  believed  that  the  rains  and 
humidity  of  the  plains  had  increased  during  the  extension  of  railroads  and 
telegraphs  across  them.  If  this  was  the  case,  it  may  have  been,  I  said,  that 
the  mysterious  electrical  agencies,  in  which  they  seemed  to  have  faith,  but 
which  they  did  not  attempt  to  explain,  had  exercised  a  beneficial  influence. 
What  effect,  if  any,  the  digging  and  grading,  the  iron  rails,  the  tension  of 
steam  in  locomotives,  the  friction  of  metallic  surfaces,  the  poles  and  wires, 
the  action  of  batteries,  &c.,  could  possibly  or  probably  have  on  the  electrical 
conditions,  as  connected  with  the  phenomena  of  precipitation,  I  did  not  un 
dertake  to  say.  It  may  have  been  that  wet  seasons  had  merely  happened 
to  coincide  with  railroads  and  telegraphs.  It  was  observed  that  the  poles 
of  the  telegraph  were  quite  frequently  destroyed  by  lightning ;  and  it  was 
probable  that  the  lightning  thus  discharged  in  many  places  where  before 
the  erection  of  the  telegraph  it  was  not  apt  to  do  so,  and  perhaps  would  not 
reach  the  earth  at  all. 

In  a  communication  to  Dr.  F.  V.  Hayden,  U.  S.  Geologist,  published  in 
his  Report  for  1870, 1  wrote  in  December  of  that  year  as  follows : 

"  There  are  facts  which  sustain  the  popular  notion  of  a  climatic  change 
[on  the  great  plains]  manifested  in  a  more  humid  atmosphere,  in  greater 
rainfall,  and  a  change  of  vegetation.  It  is  certain  that  rains  have  increased ; 
this  increase  has  coincided  with  the  increase  of  settlements,  railroads,  and 
telegraphs.  If  influenced  by  them,  the  change  of  climate  will  go  on  ;  if  by 
"  extramundane  or  cosmical  influences  not  yet  understood,"  as  supposed  by 
Mr.  Lippincott,  the  change  may  be  permanent,  progressive,  or  retrograde. 
I  think  there  are  good  grounds  to  believe  that  it  will  be  progressive. 
Within  the  last  fifteen  years,  in  Western  Missouri  and  Iowa  and  Eastern 
Kansas  and  Nebraska,  a  very  large  aggregate  of  surface  has  been  broken  up 
and  holds  more  of  the  rains  than  formerly.  During  the  same  period  modi 
fying  influences  have  been  put  in  motion  in  Montana,  Utah,  and  Colorado. 
Very  small  areas  of  timbered  lands  west  of  the  Missouri  have  been  cleared ; 
not  equal,  perhaps,  to  the  area  of  forest,  orchards  and  vineyards  planted. 
Hence  it  may  be  said  that  all  the  acts  of  man  in  this  vast  region  have  tend 
ed  to  produce  conditions  ameliorative  of  the  climate.  With  extended  settle 
ments  on  the  Arkansas,  Canadian  and  Red  rivers  to  the  south,  as  well  as  on 
the  river  system  of  the  Kaw  valley  and  on  the  Platte,  the  ameliorating  con 
ditions  will  be  extended  in  like  degree;  and  it  partakes  more  of  sober  reason 
than  of  wild  fancy  to  suppose  that  a  permanent  and  beneficial  change  of 
climate  may  be  experienced.  The  appalling  desolation  of  large  portions  of 


310  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

the  earth's  surface  through  the  acts  of  man  in  destroying  the  forests  [see 
Marsh's  book,  "Man' and  Nature"]  justifies  the  trust  that  the  cultivation  of 
taller  herbage  and  trees  in  a  region  heretofore  covered  mainly  by  short 
grasses,  may  have  a  converse  effect." 

N o  one  has  ever  to  my  knowledge  questioned  the  soundness  of  the  views 
presented  in  the  letter  to  Prof.  Henry  or  the  communication  to  Dr.  Hayden ; 
and  in  all  the  years  since  1870  I  have  seen  no  reason  to  change  or  modify 
them.  In  January,  1871,  in  an  address  to  the  Farmers'  Institute  of  the  Kan 
sas  Agricultural  College,  I  said  : 

"  The  project  of  growing  trees  in  western  Kansas  without  irrigation  is 
regarded  as  impossible  by  those  not  well  informed,  and  as  difficult  by  those 
who  have  studied  the  conditions.  With  a  climate  comparatively  arid,  in  a 
region  swept  by  winds  apt  to  be  persistent  and  at  times  violent,  the  natural 
strength  of  the  soil  must  be  exerted  under  disadvantages.  But  similar  dis 
advantages  are  to  be  found  in  distant  regions,  once  covered  with  forest  but 
now  more  desolate  than  any  part  of  the  plains.  The  hand  of  man  has  there 
destroyed.  It  is  now  proposed  that  the  hand  of  man  shall  here  restore,  or 
create.  The  native  vegetation  and  also  the  herbage  that  spriDgs  up  almost 
as  if  by  spontaneous  generation,  in  places  where  the  earth  is  disturbed  even 
by  the  wheel  of  a  common  wagon,  afford  much  encouragement.  The  grasses, 
the  thistles,  the  sunflowers,  the  blooming  ipomea,  the  rugged  cleome,  are 
structures  of  vegetable  tissue  and  fibre ;  and  the  tree  we  wish  to  grow  is 
only  the  same  result  of  mysterious  elaboration  carried  a  few  degrees  further 
and  manifested  in  the  arborescent  form.  Hence  the  most  unlettered  ob 
server,  finding  the  grasses  yielding  in  the  broken  ground  to  the  robust  and 
woody  stemmed  plants,  expounds  the  true  philosophy  in  his  frequent  ques 
tion  — '  if  grass  and  weeds  grow  so  well,  why  not  trees  ? '  Nature  has 
answered  the  question  in  the  trees  scattered  over  western  Kansas.  The 
domain  is  destitute  of  fonest;  but  the  ash,  the  box  elder,  the  cottonwood, 
the  elm,  the  hackberry,  the  oak,  the  plum,  the  walnut,  the  willow  and  the 
cherry, — all  of  which  are  found  in  western  Kansas,  and  some  persistent 
beyond  the  utmost  bound  of  the  state — bear  testimony  to  the  possibility  of 
tree  growth  over  large  areas.  We  may  pass  by  the  fossil  wood  imbedded 
in  the  strata  in  many  parts  of  the  plains  as  belonging  to  a  past,  though 
recent,  geological  era ;  but  the  living  trees  suggest  at  once  by  their  location 
the  feasibility  of  extended  forest  growth  and  the  reason  of  their  scarcity. 
They  arc  usually  found  near  water  or  in  ground  comparatively  moist. 
They  are  always  found  where  they  are  sheltered  from  fires.  Their  location 
teaches  us  that  protection  from  fires  must  be  assured. 

"  Were  it  possible,  by  some  magic  process,  to  break  up  the  entire  surface 
of  western  Kansas  to  a  depth  of  two  feet,  we  should  thereby  begin  to  make 
a  new  climate.  We  should  have  a  growth  of  taller  herbage  over  the  entire 
area  ;  less  reflection  of  the  sun's  heat ;  more  humidity  in  the  atmosphere ; 
more  constancy  in  springs,  pools  and  streams ;  fewer  violent  storms  ;  more 
frequent  showers  ;  and  less  caprice  and  fury  in  the  winds.  A  single  year 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEAHS.  311 

would  witness  the  advent  of  this  changed  vegetation  and  the  beginning  of 
this  new  climate.  In  three  years— the  fires  kept  out— there  would  be  young 
trees  in  many  places ;  and  in  twenty  years  there  would  be  fair  young  for 
ests.  The  question  whether  forest  growth  increases  the  actual  amount  of 
rainfall  need  not  be  discussed.  A  new  climate  does  not  need  more  absolute 
precipitation  to  make  it  a  blessing,  but  more  constant  atmospheric  humidity. 
That  part  of  Kansas  between  Manhattan  and  Leavenworth,  has  more  rain 
fall  in  inches  than  England  ;  yet  the  Kansas  climate,  compared  with  that  of 
England,  is  arid.  Cover  the  entire  area  with  forest,  and  our  climate,  if  not 
as  humid  as  that  of  England,  would  be  greatly  changed. 

"  Nor  is  the  view  presented  of  the  possibility  of  forest  growth  in  Kansas 
inconsistent  with  the  conclusion  of  meteorologists,  that  our  prairies  and 
open  plains  are  due  to  scanty  precipitation.  This  is  the  cause  ;  not,  how 
ever,  because  the  absolute  precipitation  is  not  enough  to  sustain  tree  growth, 
but  because  it  is  not  enough  to  protect  it  against  destruction  by  fires. 
Throughout  the  prairie  regions  east  of  the  98th  meridian,  it  is  apparently 
the  universal  rule,  that  where  fires  are  stopped,  tree  growth  soon  begins. 
Give  us  immunity  from  fires  in  western  Kansas,  and  to  a  great  extent  the 
plains  will  clothe  themselves  with  shrubs,  and  trees,  even  without  a  break 
ing  up  of  the  surface. 

"  To  redeem  to  civilized  uses,  and  to  cover  with  happy  homes  the  im 
mense  region  west  of  the  98th  meridian, — a  region  of  capabilities  vastly 
greater  than  its  past  repute  would  wuggest — is  a  work  worthy  of  the  age  and 
of  the  nation.  The  United  States,  not  only  as  .the  great  landed  proprietor, 
but  in  the  interest  of  humanity,  ought  to  lead  in  the  work,  either  by  forests 
planted  at  the  public  cost,  or  by  subsidies  in  money  or  lands  to  individuals 
or  companies." 

The  suggestion  that  the  United  States  ought  to  aid  forest  culture  Was 
realized  within  two  years  from  the  date  of  this  address,  by  the  passage  of 
the  Act  of  Congress  granting  lands  to  settlers  on  condition  that  a  part 
should  be  planted  with  trees.  In  the  same  address  I  suggested  that  the 
military  reservation  at  Fort  Harker  ought  at  once  to  be  donated  to  the  state 
of  Kansas  for  a  nursery  to  grow  forest  trees  for  the  settlers  to  plant ;  and 
that  the  Fort  Biley  reservation  ought  also,  in  time,  to  be  given  to  the  state 
for  a  grand  University,  in  which  forestry  should  be  one  of  the  branches 
taught ;  but  these  ideas  were  too  big  to  get  into  the  heads  of  the  Senators 
and  Congressmen. 

The  little  columns  of  dust  mentioned  in  the  letter  to  Prof.  Henry  were  in 
fact  little  tornadoes.  They  were  the  visible  effects  of  causes  (electricity  and 
magnetism)  indicated  in  a  letter  I  wrote  in  1871  to  George  P.  Plant,  of  St. 
Louis,  on  the  subject  of  signal  stations  on  the  plains.  The  meteorology  of 
the  great  plains,  I  said,  had  never  been  studied  from  facts.  It  had  been 
theorized  on  a  great  deal,  and  many  pretty  superstructures  had  been  raised, 
only  lacking  good  foundations  to  be  perfect.  Some  of  the  storms  originating 
in  the  plains  take  up  their  march  to  the  sea,  and  of  these  I  said :  "  When 


312  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

one  of  the  grand  rain  or  snow  storms  is  on  its  march  to  the  sea,  its  progress 
may  be  recorded  and  warnings  given.  The  progress  is  generally  at  about 
the  rate  of  twenty  miles  an  hour.  The  Bureau  can  tell  when  it  is  at  the 
west  line  of  Missouri,  and  there  will  be  twelve  to  fourteen  hours  to  prepare 
for  it  in  St.  Louis."  In  the  same  letter  I  generalized  somewhat  for  the 
benefit  of  the  high  science  men  : 

"  Let  us  suppose  the  earth,  with  its  present  atmosphere,  its  diurnal  rota 
tion,  its  annual  motion,  and  its  relation  to  the  heavenly  bodies, — and  with 
out  any  disturbing  cause  within  itself ;— ought  not  the  winds  to  be  regular 
in  their  course,  as  influenced  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  the  attraction  of 
the  spheres,  changing  with  the  seasons  but  ever  uniform?  Would  not  the 
heated  air  take  up  the  waters  and  the  cooler  condense  them  in  one  uniform 
round,  giving  to  each  locality  always  the  same  clear  atmosphere,  or  mist,  or 
rain,  or  snow,  at  the  same  time  each  year, — the  recurring  season  having  the 
wind  from  the  same  point  and  attended  by  the  same  conditions  as  in  the 
year  before?  But  may  we  not  have  in  what  we  call  ELECTRICITY  and  MAG 
NETISM  something  that  interferes  with  what  would,  but  for  their  existence, 
be  the  normal  condition  of  the  atmosphere  ?  Are  they  not  the  disturbing 
causes,  probably  influenced  and  acted  on  by  the  sun,  perhaps  by  other 
bodies ;  pervading  the  solid  globe  with  their  currents,  and  passing  to  and 
from  and  through  the  atmosphere?— attracting  and  heating,  and  repelling 
and  cooling  its  particles,  and  thus  producing  those  disturbances  which  we 
call  storms?" 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  SIS 


CHAPTER    XLVI. 

A  NEBRASKA  SENATOR — EARLY  SPRING  WORK — OUR  COLLEGE  —  MISSOURI  TES 
TIMONY—AGRICULTURAL  EDITORS  TESTIFY  — COL.  GEORGE  T.  ANTHONY'S 
COMPLIMENT— AN  OFFICIAL  REPORT  OF  INDUSTRIAL  AGENT— POND  CREEK, 
ELLIS  AND  WILSON— WHEAT  SHIPMENTS  FROM  THE  PLAINS— INCREASE  OF 
SETTLEMENTS  AND  PRODUCTIONS  —  ONE  BAD  STORM  —  HERDER'S  TALE  IN 
DIALECT. 

Lord  Bacon,  or  William  Shakspeare,  wrote  the  plays  ascribed  to  the  lat 
ter,  and  said  — 

"The  evil  that  men  do  live  after  them; 
The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones." 

But  the  good  is  sometimes  lasting ;  if  not  in  the  memories  of  men,  yet  in 
tangible  results.  Senator  P.  W.  Hitchcock,  of  Nebraska,  may  be  credited 
with  perhaps  the  largest  share  in  passing  the  act  of  Congress  to  promote 
tree-planting  on  the  Western  plains.  Thousands  of  acres  have  been  planted 
under  that  act.  The  Senator  is  dead,  but  the  little  groves  are  living.  They 
may  not  preserve  his  name,  but  the  good  he  did  is  not  interred  with  his 
bones ;  it  lives  after  him.  Having  aided  to  get  the  timber-culture  act,  I  do 
not  agree  with  those  who  desire  its  repeal.  No  better  use  can  be  made  of 
land  in  the  plains  than  to  let  those  have  it  who  plant  trees  thereon. 

By  the  first  of  March,  1871,  the  two  Hibernians  and  myself  were  again 
ready  for  work,  and  for  three  seasons  this  was  our  date  to  begin  spring  oper 
ations.  The  ground  would  on  some  days  be  frozen  and  not  thaw  till  noon, 
but  the  fact  that  we  could  begin  farm  work  at  all  so  early  in  the  season  is 
important.  Moving  as  we  did  from  station  to  station,  with  our  entire  outfit 
of  mules,  wagon,  plows,  &c.,  our  time  in  the  planting  season  was  fully 
occupied  ;  yet  I  managed  in  the  early  part  of  1871  to  write  some  twenty  let 
ters  to  the  Lawrence  Journal  on  "Forest  Trees  for  Kansas,"  and  gave  many 
hints  of  value  to  people  of  the  State.  The  closing  letter  had  a  few  passages 
intended  simply  for  pleasantry  : 

"Our  Agricultural  College  gives  me  quite  enough  to  do.  Perhaps  you 
have  not  known  that  we  have  such  a  thing  out  here,  west  of  Brookville  ! 
Well,  we  have;  but  fastidious  people  may  not  like  the  way  our  college  is 


314  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

carried  on.  It  is  run  with  a  team  of  mules,  plows,  harrows,  hoes,  rakes, 
spades,  two  men  (students),  and  myself.  Louis  XIV.  said:  ' L^tat — c'est 
moi!J  (The  state— that  is  me !)  Not  from  ostentation,  but  from  necessity, 
Louis  must  be  imitated  :  "  The  Faculty  —  that  is  me !"  The  whole  corps  of 
professors  is  condensed  in  to  one.  We  trust  the  labors  may  not  make  a  corpse 
of  that  one.  This  college  is  both  '  scientific '  and  '  practical.'  The  *  lectures' 
begin  about  five  o'clock  A.M.  and  are  continued  until  dark,  with  intervals 
of  recitation  at  meals.  Instead  of  a  blackboard  we  use  a  parallelogram  of 
the  black  soil  of  Kansas  ;  and  there  we  draw  furrows,  and  sometimes  infer 
ences.  The  '  students  '  learn  to  draw  rapidly,  especially  on  pay-day. 

"  The  subjects  of  our  'lectures,'  with  practical  examples,  are:  plowing, 
harrowing;  dragging  (the  students  persist  in  calling  it);  staking  out  straight 
lines  ;  opening  furrows  to  plant  trees  in  ;  soaking  and  sprouting  the  seeds 
of  trees ;  putting  the  roots  of  trees  in  dope  (high-science  word  for  mud- 
puddle)  ;  planting  trees,  with  pulverized  earth  well  pressed  among  the 
roots  ;  earthing  up  and  leaving  a  loose  surface ;  planting  walnuts  in  such  a 
manner  that  the  expected  4  spongioles '  may  have  food  ready,  and  the  plu 
mule'  get  out  to  sun  and  air  without  trouble ;  pruning  the  little  trees  so  that 
their  roots  may  not  be  called  on  to  supply  too  many  buds  with  moisture; 
turning  the  raw  prairie  sod  on  a  few  tree  seeds,  to  see  what  they  will  do 
under  such  treatment ;  sowing  spring  wheat  and  oats  7th  March  and  hav 
ing  them  up  now  ;  planting  corn  10th  March,  having  it  coming  up  and  nip 
ped  by  frost  making  quarter-inch  ice  llth  April,  but  keeping  alive  below 
ground  and  sure  to  grow ;  planting  the  prunings  of  poplar  and  willow,  to 
see  if  cuttings  will  grow  in  the  *  desert';  sowing  grass  seeds,  and  so  on. 

"  We  have  settled  one  point  which  has  troubled  other  agricultural  col 
leges.  We  have  the  manual  labor  system  in  full  force,  and  it  does  well.  The 
'  students '  having  to  do  a  thing,  come  to  understand  it,  and  they  can  do 
it  next  time  without  the  preliminary  lecture.  We  find  that  even  the 
mules  can  be  taught  in  this  way  ;  for,  having  been  at  one  kind  of  work, 
they  become  in  some  sort  skilled  in  it.  We  also  find  that  even  the '  Facul 
ty  '  may  learn  something  daily  by  hard  work. 

"We  have  a  large  class  of  perambulating  students,  the  amateur  class 
from  passing  cars,  who  lean  their  chins  on  the  top  rail  of  the  fence  while  the 
train  is  watering,  and  absorb  knowledge  through  the  eye.  No  regular  '  lec 
tures  '  are  delivered  to  this  class,  who  do  not,  in  fact,  need  them ;  for  they 
often  kindly  and  generously  volunteer  to  instruct  us.  Not  being  under  pay, 
this  class  is  not  in  favor  of  the  manual  labor  plan. 

1 '  Our  college  grounds  are  high  above  sea  level,  and  very  broad  the  long 
way,  reaching  from  Brookville  to  Denver.  But  we  have  thus  far  held  our 
principal  sessions  only  at  Wilson,  Ellis,  and  Pond  Creek.  Stretching  out 
our  college  operations  in  this  way  gives  us  a  variety  of  climate,  and  secures 
us  a  soil  of  unknown  value.  Another  advantage  is,  that  we  cannot  be  said 
to  bo  merely  treading  in  the  beaten  track.  We  are  not  acting  out  the  sug 
gestions  of  the  learned  world,  taken  as  a  whole ;  for  many  very  learned  peo- 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEAKS.  315 

pie  have  deckled,  from  theory,  that  nothing  could  be  done,  where,  in  practice y 
we  now  have  grains  and  grasses  and  trees  growing. 

"  As  our  operations  necessarily  demonstrate  that  there  is  value  in  a  large 
portion  of  the  public  domain  heretofore  regarded  as  worthless,  you  may 
suppose  that  the  United  States,  as  the  largest  land  owner,  contributes  to 
the  expense.  All  a  mistake.  U.  S.  has  not  contributed  one  dollar.  Nor  has 
the  State  of  Kansas.  Nor  has  either  been  asked  to  do  so.  However  benefi 
cial  we  hope  to  make  our  operations  to  Kansas  as  a  State,  we  do  not  ask  for 
her  money.  Our  '  Faculty '  only  suggests  that  she  shall  do  justice  to 
herself." 

In  the  early  summer  of  1871,  the  Missouri  State  Board  of  Agriculture  vis 
ited  the  mountains  and  critically  examined  my  "  farms  "  as  they  passed. 
On  their  return  home,  Henry  T.  Mudd,  President,  and  Charles  W.  Murt- 
feldt,  Secretary  of  the  Board,  addressed  a  formal  letter  to  Robert  E.  Carrr 
then  President  of  the  Railway,  on  the  subject  of  my  experiments.  I  copy 
this  disinterested  testimony  from  competent  witnesses : 

"Among  all  the  evidences  of  growth  and  possibilities  which  we  witnessed 
in  the  vigorous  young  State  of  Kansas,  none  gave  us  greater  pleasure  than 
the  successful  trials  of  trees,  tree  seeds,  grains,  and  grasses,  without  irriga 
tion,  made  in  the  distant  plains  under  the  orders  of  your  Company ;  and  as 
these  trials  are  probably  the  first  ever  made  by  a  private  corporation  to  test 
the  productive  capacity  of  an  immense  area  of  lands,  we  deem  it  not  im 
proper  to  make  a  brief  reference  to  them. 

"The  first  farm,  at  Wilson,  is  in  a  part  of  the  continent  heretofore  re 
garded  as  too  arid  in  climate  for  production,  unless  by  aid  of  irrigation  ;  yet 
we  found  wheat,  rye,  and  barley,  sown  November  11,  1870,  equal  to  if  not 
beyond  the  average  crop  of  any  part  of  the  Union.  Spring  wheat,  oats, 
spring  barley,  Indian  corn  and  Hungarian  grass  were  promising  well,  and 
sorghum  better  than  any  the  Board  had  seen  this  season.  The  transplanted 
trees,  generally,  had  grown  remarkably  well,  and  would  do  no  discredit  to 
any  part  of  the  country.  Trees  from  seeds  planted  in  fall  of  1870  and  spring 
of  1871  were  promising  fairly. 

"  At  Ellis  a  hailstorm  of  unusual  severity,  which  occurred  on  the  first  of 
June,  had  destroyed  the  grain  and  nearly  all  the  seedling  trees,  and  greatly 
damaged  the  transplanted  trees ;  but  the  wrecks  showed  that  this  planta 
tion  had  been  in  a  condition  similar  to  that  at  Wilson. 

"  At  Pond  Creek,  within  a  few  miles  of  the  west  line  of  the  State  of  Kan 
sas,  and  near  the  one  hundred  and  second  meridian  of  longitude,  we  found 
the  forest  trees  doing  nearly  as  well  as  at  Wilson,  and  promising  the  entire 
success  of  several  varieties.  The  rye  at  Pond  Creek,  sown  on  raw  ground, 
would  rate  as  a  good  crop  in  Missouri  or  Illinois  ;  and  of  the  winter  wheat 
and  barley,  the  plants  which  had  endured  the  winter  were  heading  out 
finely.  Rye  may  be  regarded  as  a  valuable  crop  to  the  west  line  of  Kansas 


310  NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEABS. 

(without  irrigation) ;  and  further  trials  of  wheat  and  harley  of  the  more 
hardy  kinds,  will  in  all  probability  prove  to  be  entirely  successful. 

"Upon  the  whole,  the  members  of  the  Board  were  much  impressed  by 
the  facts  apparently  established  by  the  trials  alluded  to,  that  the  great 
plains  have  capabilities  of  production  greatly  beyond  the  public  estimate. 

"  The  rapid  spread  of  settlements  westward  in  Kansas,  due  to  your  rail 
way,  suggests  that  a  few  years  will  unite  the  communities  of  Kansas  and 
Colorado ;  and,  while  it  is  manifest  that  live  stock  production  must  be  the 
leading  interest  of  the  plains,  the  fact  that  grasses,  grains  and  trees  may 
surround  the  settler's  home  at  a  small  outlay  of  labor,  promises  grand  re 
sults  in  the  future." 

An  excursion  of  agricultural  editors  and  writers  passed  over  the  road  in 
August,  1871.  Mr.  M.  L.  Dunlap,  of  Champaign,  Illinois,  a  well  known 
agriculturist,  wrote  to  the  Chicago  Tribune : 

"  Can  these  pastoral  plains  be  settled  ?  All  say,  '  Yes ;  but  it  must  be  by 
the  herdsman,  who,  like  Jacob  of  old,  may  drive  his  herds  from  plain  to 
plain,  and  lead  a  sort  of  nomadic  life.'  But  there  are  elements  that  man 
will  employ  to  make,  in  time,  a  material  change  in  the  whole  aspect  of 
the  country.  In  their  present  condition,  they  are  only  valuable  for  pas 
turage.  But  Mr.  R.  S.  Elliott,  the  Industrial  Agent  of  the  Kansas  Pacific, 
has  proved  that  trees  may  be  grown  on  these  plains  without  the  aid  of  irri 
gation,  at  least  if  this  year's  experience  proves  anything.  He  has  also 
shown  that  wheat,  oats,  barley,  corn,  and  potatoes  may  be  grown  to  a  rea 
sonable  extent." 

The  correspondent  of  the  Albany  Country  Gentleman  wrote : 

"  The  Industrial  Agent  of  the  Railway  is  called  the  *  Tree  Planter  of  the 
Prairies.'  He  is  reducing  theory  to  practice ;  is  teaching  the  settlers  on 
these  wide  plains  that  they  can  grow  their  own  forests,  can  plant  their  own 
firewood  and  timber,  and  may  reasonably  hope  to  profit  by  their  own  labors, 
and  not  invest  money  and  toil  only  for  those  who  will  come  after  them.  Mr. 
Elliott  possesses  a  vast  amount  of  information  on  all  subjects,  and  has  proved 
to  all  the  wisdom  of  his  project,  and  no  one  who  has  seen  his  plantations  can 
doubt  the  possibility  of  clothing  these  fertile  prairies  with  forests  of  decidu 
ous  and  evergreen  trees.  His  experiments  in  arboriculture  and  agriculture 
on  these  vast  plains  will  give  him  an  enduring  monument.  We  owed  much 
of  the  pleasure  of  our  travel  over  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railway  to  his  agree 
able  companionship,  and  shall  ever  remember  him  with  pleasure,  and  bid 
him  Godspeed  in  all  his  undertakings." 

The  correspondent  of  the  Germantown  Telegraph  said : 

"  There  is  one  point  of  the  greatest  interest.  This  is  the  capacity  of  the 
country  for  tree-growth.  The  Kansas  Pacific  Railroad  has  been  instituting 


NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEAKS.  317 

experiments  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  R.  S.  Elliott,  which,  so  far  as  can  be 
judged,  have  resulted  in  complete  success.  We  examined  his  plantations 
at  various  points  and  can  testify  to  the  extraordinary  growth  of  the  young 
plants.  Mr.  Meehan,  of  your  place,  Josiah  Hoopes,  of  West  Chester,  and 
Mr.  Douglas,  of  Waukegan,  111.,  all  freely  stated  that  they  had  never  seen 
such  growth  in  the  same  time  in  their  own  localities.  It  is  a  subject  of  the 
greatest  importance  in  these  vast  and  treeless  plains,  and  as  it  promises  to 
be  completely  successful,  will  add  vastly  to  the  wealth  of  the  country  and 
the  comfort  of  the  millions  who  will  some  day  fill  these  plains." 

Mr.  Henry  T.  Williams,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  N.  Y.  Farmers'  Club, 
said: 

"  Beyond  the  central  portions  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  the  country  is  so 
elevated,  and  so  devoid  of  water  or  rain  for  irrigating  purposes,  that  most 
agricultural  writers  have  asserted,  over  and  over  again,  it  was  useless  to 
attempt  any  sort  of  tree-culture,  for  they  could  not  possibly  live  in  so  uncon 
genial  a  soil  and  climate.  Mr.  R.  S.  Elliott,  Industrial  Agent  of  the  Kansas 
Pacific  Railway,  had  become  convinced  that  tree-culture  was  a  possibility, 
and  therefore  commenced  in  the  most  exposed  localities,  to  prove  that  the 
plains  did  actually  possess  some  encouraging  signs  of  success  in  tree-growth, 
and  to  remove  beyond  further  question  the  prejudices  of  those  writers  who 
know  so  little  of  the  subject.  The  objects  were  twofold :  First,  to  see  if 
young  trees  taken  from  our  ordinary  commercial  nurseries  and  transplanted 
here  would  thrive  either  with  or  without  irrigation;  and,  second,  to  learn 
what  varieties  adapted  themselves  most  readily  to  the  situation,  and  made 
the  most  rapid  and  healthy  growth.  His  facilities  for  the  purpose  were 
rather  rude.  His  only  force  consisted  of  two  laborers,  who  knew  nothing  of 
tree-planting ;  the  boyes  of  trees  were  opened  at  three  different  stations, 
and  the  trees  had  to  be  transported  from  place  to  place,  and  subjected  to 
considerable  handling,  exposure,  and  delay,  before  all  were  finally  planted. 
At  each  place  the  ground  was  broken  up  last  September  to  the  depth  of  six 
or  eight  inches,  and  again  plowed  over  this  spring,  when  the  seeds  of  some 
trees  were  sown  without  special  care,  and  the  other  young  trees  hastily 
planted.  No  artificial  irrigation  was  resorted  to,  neither  had  there  been 
much  subsequent  cultivation  of  the  ground,  from  the  beginning  of  spring 
down  to  the  1st  of  August.  The  ground  was  also  not  particularly  advan 
tageous  for  the  purpose,  being  a  high,  rolling  prairie,  very  dry  soil,  covered 
with  buffalo  grass,  and  considerably  exposed  to  the  driving  winds.  This 
work  was  purposely  done  in  a  rude  style  such  as  a  farmer  would  ordinarily 
practice.  The  seeds  were  sown  broadcast  on  the  plowed  ground,  harrowed 
in  slightly,  and  left  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Enough  has  been  done  to 
satisfy  any  sanguine  man  that  tree-culture  upon  the  far  Western  prairies 
is  no  longer  a  doubt  or  a  conjecture,  but  has  a  reasonable  prospect  of  suc 
cess.  The  solution  of  these  experiments  is  calculated  to  have  an  important 


318  NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

bearing,  not  only  on  the  agriculture  of  those  sections,  but  also  the  climate, 
and  may  be  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most  important  discoveries  of  modern 
times." 

Bev.  William  Clift,  of  Mystic  Bridge,  Connecticut,  wrote  to  Hearth  and 
Home: 

"  This  is  the  first  year  of  these  experiments,  and  we  can  not  tell  what 
may  transpire  in  the  future.  But  so  far  they  are  entirely  successful,  and 
there  seems  to  be  a  good  foundation  for  the  belief  of  this  eminently  practical 
man,  the  Industrial  Agent,  that  he  will  succeed  in  making  trees  grow  and 
in  raising  crops  along  the  whole  line  of  this  road." 

Extracts  from  the  public  journals,  referring  to  the  work  on  the  plains, 
could  be  multiplied,  but  enough  has  been  given  to  show  how  the  results 
were  regarded,  and  one  more  will  suffice.  Col.  George  T.  Anthony,  since 
Governor  of  Kansas,  and*  now  one  of  the  magnates  of  the  Mexican  Railroad 
from  El  Paso  South,  was  then  editor  of  the  Kansas  Farmer,  and  in  Janu 
ary,  1873,  thus  spoke  of  experiments  on  the  plains,  and  of  myself : 

"  The  Kansas  Pacific  Company  was  the  pioneer  in  this  work.  Possessed 
of  a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  western  portion  of  this  State,  known  as  l  The 
Plains,'  they  organized  an  intelligent  course  of  experiments  in  grain,  fruit 
and  forest  culture,  some  three  years  ago,  which  promises  an  early,  definite 
and  favorable  settlement  of  the  vexed  question  of  its  producing  capability 
under  cultivation.  'The  Company  was  peculiarly  fortunate  in  its  selection 
of  a  man  to  take  charge  of  this  apparently  unpromising  work.  It  was  put 
in  charge  of  R.  S.  Elliott,  of  Missouri,  who  has  brought  to  the  work  a  singu 
lar  fitness  in  practical  common  sense,  and  a  mind  fortified  by  much  and 
varied  reading.  These  columns  have  carried  out  many  reports  of  his  work, 
and  not  a  few  terse  articles  from  his  ready  but  careful  pen." 

As  Col.  Anthony  was  a  man  of  very  positive  character,  and  only  wrote 
as  he  thought,  his  voluntary  compliment  was  of  value,  rather  as  witnessing 
the  importance  of  my  work  than  as  eulogy  of  myself.  Appreciation  is  a 
good  thing,  and  a  man  who  thinks  he  has  done  well  may  be  allowed  to 
desire  it. 

My  report  of  28th  April,  1873,  to  the  directors,  gave  a  fair  view  of  the 
conditions  and  prospects.  As  a  part  of  the  history  of  Kansas  I  condense  it 
here.  A  few  years  hence,  the  bookworms  in  Kansas  libraries  will  hardly 
be  able  to  credit  the  tale  that  their  state  had  to  be  shown  by  experiment  to 
be  worthy  of  attention,  before  people  would  risk  settlement  in  it.  The  re 
port  said :  - 

"The  operations  have  been  on  a  moderate  scale,  yet  there  has  been  so 
great  a  variety  of  trees  and  plants  tried,  that  nothing  of  value  likely  to  suc 
ceed  has  been  neglected.  All  the  experiments  have  been  without  irrigation. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  319 

Failures  in  many  things  were  expected,  yet  the  success  has  been  such  as  to 
fully  vindicate  your  wisdom  in  having  trials  made. 

"  The  field  at  Pond  Creek  is  near  the  one  hundred  and  second  degree  of 
longitude  west  from  Greenwich,  on  the  western  border  of  the  State  of  Kan 
sas,  partly  in  the  flat,  and  partly  on  the  slope  of  the  upland.  If  a  test  place 
were  desired  with  the  most  unfavorable  conditions,  we  have  found  it ;  for 
I  know  of  no  spot  in  all  the  plains  less  promising  ;  and  whatever  success 
we  have  had  in  this  field  may  be  equalled  anywhere  on  the  line  of  your 
road.  Pond  Creek  is  in  the  midst  of  that  immense  grazing  region,  where 
the  anomaly  is  presented  of  the  most  nutritious  grasses  on  the  most  arid 
plains;  the  rich  juices  of  the  herbage  being  concentrated  by  the  hot  suns 
and  drying  airs  of  autumn,  and  thus  cured  into  winter  fodder  for  domestic 
animals,  now  beginning  to  take  the  place  of  the  buffalo,  elk  and  antelope. 
But  as  fire  may  destroy  the  range,  and  severe  storms  may  occur  as  well  as 
in  Illinois  or  Missouri,  some  provision  of  winter  food  is  desirable,  especially 
for  horses  and  sheep ;  and  the  localities  in  which  grass  is  spontaneously 
produced  for  hay  being  of  limited  extent,  compared  with  the  vast  area  of 
grazing  grounds,  the  question  whether  grain  and  fodder  could  be  grown 
without  irrigation  had  peculiar  interest.  It  has  been  satisfactorily  answered 
by  your  experiments.  The  diploma,  given  last  September  by  the  Denver 
Fair  Association  to  'the  Kansas  Pacific  Railway  Company  for  best  rye  in 
grain  and  stalk,  and  best  sorghum,  millet  and*  Hungarian  grass  grown  on 
the  great  plains  without  irrigation,7  renders  further  reference  to  these  plants 
unnecessary.  With  the  ground  broken  to  sufficient  depth,  I  think  alfalfa 
will  be  of  value  in  that  region,  judging  from  trials  in  a  small  way.  Corn 
was  tried  last  year,  but  all,  save  a  few  hills,  was  destroyed  by  gophers. 
The  hills  which  escaped  were  not  hoed  or  otherwise  cultivated ;  yet,  with 
the  silk  eaten  off  by  grasshoppers,  they  still  matured  ears  well  filled  with 
grains.  Three  years  ago  it  was  not  supposed  by  the  most  sanguine  that  ears 
would  fill  at  all  in  that  locality,  depending  on  the  rainfall  alone,  and  all  we 
hoped  was  to  grow  the  stalks  and  blades  as  fodder. 

"  Spring  wheat  and  oats  in  1871  (not  tried  since)  matured  their  grain  on 
stalks  of  moderate  length.  The  settler  can  sow  them  with  advantage.  Rye 
was  excellent  in  stalk  and  very  fair  in  grain,  both  in  1871  and  1872.  Winter 
wheat  has  failed  at  Pond  Creek,  but  will,  it  is  believed,  if  sown  early  enough, 
succeed  in  average  seasons. 

"From  seed,  with  rude  treatment,  ailanthus,  box-elder,  black  locust, 
honey  locust,  and  Osage  orange,  grew  fairly  last  season.  But  most  of  the 
little  trees  have  perished  from  the  unusual  dryness  of  the  fall  and  winter. 
With  deep  enough  preparation  of  the  ground,  most  of  the  seedlings  of  these 
and  other  trees  would  live,  even  through  extreme  winters,  without  protec 
tion.  Of  trees  transplanted  in  1871  and  1872,  ash,  box-elder,  elm,  honey 
locust,  and  Osage  orange,  have  grown  most  vigorously,  and  all  are  hardy 
except  the  last,  which  suffers  from  extreme  cold.  Black  walnut  does  not 
show  much  vigor ;  and  the  poplars  and  willows,  as  also  the  silver  maple, 


320  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS. 

have  almost  entirely  failed  in.  the  flat,  though  the  latter,  in  very  exposed 
positions  on  the  upland,  has  grown  well,  and  endured  the  winter.  It  is  an 
interesting  fact  that  near  the  west  line  of  Kansas  some  trees  seemed  to  do 
better  on  the  uplands  than  in  the  bottoms.  The  tenderness  in  winter  of  the 
Osage  orange  is  of  less  consequence,  since  we  have  in  the  honey  locust  a 
vigorous  and  effective  tree  for  hedges.  Our  trials  indicate  that  this  tree  is 
at  home  in  any  locality,  and  grows  well  without  irrigation,  shoots  last  year 
in  the  Pond  Creek  field  reaching  a  length  of  four  and  five  feet..  To  the  trees 
already  named  the  cotton-wood  is,  of  course,  to  be  added.  Of  evergreens, 
the  Austrian  and  Scotch  pines,  and  the  red  cedar,  are  possibly  best  for  the 
extreme  western  regions  of  Kansas. 

"  The  wheat  and  rye  at  Ellis,  mentioned  in  my  last  annual  report  (April 
30, 1872)  as  '  doing  so  well  as  to  be  the  wonder  of  all  observers,'  matured  in 
good  condition.  The  wheat  was  pronounced  by  an  experienced  miller  of  St. 
Louis  to  be  of  a  superior  quality ;  and  the  rye  compared  well  with  the  rye  of 
Illinois  to  which  the  premium  was  awarded  at  the  St.  Louir  Fair.  Wheat 
and  rye,  sown  Aug.  27, 1872,  promised  well  during  the  autumn,  covering  the 
ground  with  a  brilliant  carpet  of  green ;  but  there  being  no  rainfall  after 
the  early  days  of  September,  the  plants  dried  up.  They  did  not  winter-kill, 
in  the  usual  acceptation  of  that  term ;  it  was  death  from  dryness.  By  this 
result  we  have  only  been  put  in  the  position  of  many  farmers  in  Missouri 
and  other  States  during  the  previous  winter.  I  do  not  fear  the  average  sea 
sons.  I  am  unshaken  in  the  faith  that  wheat  and  rye  are  crops  to  be  relied 
on  at  Ellis. 

"  Corn  at  Ellis— where,  in  1870,  we  did  not  expect  that  ears  larger  than 
nubbins  would  form  or  fill— yielded  so  well  that  strangers  could  not  under 
stand  how  its  success  had  ever  been  doubted.  Sorghum  yielded  abundance 
of  seed,  which  might  for  many  uses  be  substituted  for  other  grains. 

"  Hungarian  grass,  millet,  and  sorghum,  grown  as  fodder,  were  of  course 
successful.  A  small  plot  of  alfalfa  established  itself,  and  the  plants  were 
among  the  first  to  show  green  leaves  this  spring.  A  trial  is  being  made  this 
season  of  blue-joint  grass.  I  think  it  possible,  if  not  probable,  that  this 
native  plant  of  Kansas  may  turn  out  to  be  the  best  for  artificial  meadows  on 
the  plains.  In  course  of  time  it  will  be  likely  to  spread  of  itself  all  over  the 
country  about  Ellis,  as  it  has  already  east  of  Brookville ;  but  I  have  ob 
served  that  it  is  much  more  vigorous  in  plowed  ground  than  in  the  hard  soil 
of  the  prairies.  Pumpkins,  squashes,  melons,  beets,  etc.,  all  do  well.  Pea 
nuts  are  productive,  and  of  unusual  size.  Castor  beans  grown  at  Ellis  last 
year  were  of  such  quality  that  Col.  Thos.  Richeson  of  St.  Louis  (president  of 
the  Collier  Oil  Co.)  pronounced  them  'first-class,'  equal  to  any  received 
from  Illinois. " 

"  Trees  from  seed  in  1872— box-elder,  black  locust,  honey  locust  and  Osage 
orange,  were  successful;  the  two  first  making  growth  of  sixteen  to  thirty- 
six  inches.  Honey  locust,  growing  from  seed,  is  much  damaged  when 
small,  by  the  blister  beetle ;  and  gophers  eat  the  roots  of  this  tree  and  of 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEAKS.  321 

the  Lombardy  poplar.  The  average  size  of  the  seedling  trees  at  Ellis  is 
equal  to  that  of  trees  of  the  same  kinds  in  the  forest  tree  catalogues  of  Illi 
nois  nurseries:  Of  deciduous  trees  transplanted  in  1871  and  1872,  at  Ellis, 
ailantus,  box-elder,  catalpa,  cottonwood,  elm,  honey  locust,  silver  maple, 
Lombardy  poplar,  Osage  orange,  white  poplar  (Abele)  and  black  walnut,  all 
grow  fairly,  and  some  with  much  vigor.  European  larch  is  feeble,  and  the 
willows  grow  as  bushes  rather  than  trees.  The  '  white  poplar '  of  Wiscon 
sin  (populus  grandideniata)  has  been  tried,  but  is  not  of  value.  In  fact  no 
tree  of  the  poplar  family  is  equal  in  value  to  the  native  cottonwood.  Of 
evergreen  trees  so  far  tried,  Austrian  and  Scotch  pines  and  red  cedar  grow 
with  a  vigor  that  is  very  encouraging.  Of  these  pines  planted  in  1871,  a 
larger  per  centage  is  alive  and  growing  than  of  the  same  trees  planted  at 
the  same  time  in  the  experimental  grounds  in  one  of  the  industrial  universi 
ties  east  of  the  Mississippi.  The  field  at  Ellis  is  so  well  known,  and  is  so 
generally  regarded  as  a  full  demonstration  of  all  we  have  claimed  for  that 
region,  if  not  more,  that  further  remarks  on  it  are  not  needed.  The  influx 
of  settlers,  influenced  by  what  they  see  as  the  result  of  experiment,  and  the 
sales  of  large  bodies  of  lands,  constitute  a  better  proof  of  success  than  any 
thing  I  could  write. 

"  At  "Wilson,  where  all  was  waste  prairie  in  1870,  and  buffalo  were  yet  in 
sight  in  1872,  we  are  so  surrounded  by  settlements  that  detailed  experiments 
have  ceased.  Looking  back  three  years,  and  contrasting  the  condition  then 
and  now  of  the  country  west  of  Fort  Harker,  one  can  hardly  realize  that  it 
is  the  same  region.  The  faith  which  led  you  into  the  *  desert '  with  the 
plow  as  well  as  the  locomotive,  is  abundantly  justified  by  results  visible  to 
all.  As  the  first  spot  in  which  experiments  in  tree-culture  were  begun  on 
the  plains,  this  station  may  be  regarded  with  some  interest.  When  groves, 
wind-breaks  and  small  forests  become  more  numerous  over  this  now  treeless 
region,  Wilson  may  claim  the  title  of  pioneer  in  a  great  work.  The  progress 
of  settlements  westward  in  Kansas  and  eastward  in  Colorado  has  been  so 
rapid  since  1870,  that  the  gap  between  those  on  the  west  and  those  on  the 
east  will  be  closed  in  perhaps  one-fifth  the  time  estimated  three  years  ago. 
The  nation  is  your  debtor." 

At  the  date  of  this  report  everything  was  lovely,  but  during  the  summer 
an  invasion  of  grasshoppers — the  flying  kind,  which  high  overhead  glint  in 
the  sunshine  like  floating  crystals — damaged  all  the  fields  very  seriously  ; 
but  enough  trees  and  other  growth  survived  to  show  the  incoming  settlers 
that  even  under  adverse  circumstances  much  could  be  done. 

My  faith  in  the  country  about  Ellis,  three  hundred  miles  west  of  Kansas 
City,  as  a  wheat  growing  region,  has  been  abundantly  sustained  by  ship 
ments  from  that  point  and  places  west  of  it.  My  little  '  plantation  '  at  Wil 
son  caused  the  Wisconsin  Colony  to  settle  Russell  county  in  1871.  The 
*  plantation '  at  Ellis  led  Sir  George  Grant  to  purchase  in  1872  a  large  body 
of  land,  on  which  the  English  Colony  at  Victoria,  beyond  Russell,  was 
established.  An  uninterrupted  increase  of  settlement  and  production  has 


322  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

gone  on  since,  and  most  of  the  people  out  there  now  do  not  know  that  the 
value  of  the  country  was  ever  doubted.  If  I  had  never  existed  western 
Kansas  would  have  been  understood  and  made  use  of ;  but  my  operations 
hastened  events. 

During  my  experience  as  '  Industrial  Agent '  the  trains  were  sometimes 
in  winter  impeded  by  snow,  but  there  was  only  one  destructive  storm  along 
the  line  of  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railway.  This  was  in  November,  1871.  I 
was  at  Wilson,  where  the  storm  began  with  rain,  then  turned  to  snow,  and 
some  cattle  perished  on  the  border  of  the  settlements.  Near  Ellis,  herds  on 
the  short  buffalo  grass,  where  the  storm  began  with  dry  snow,  stampeded, 
but  none  were  lost  for  want  of  food.  There  was  some  loss  of  human  life 
near  Fort  Hays. 

THE  HERDER'S  TALE. 

It's  lonesome,  eh?— a  herdin'  steers  away  out  on  Saline? 
Well,  stranger,  no— when  weather's  f  a'r,  but  roughish  when  it's  mean. 
You  can't  go  foolin'  round  and  keep  five  hundred  steers  all  right- 
Jest  try  them  broadhorns  once  yourself,  some  ugly  stormy  night. 

Stampede,  eh?— Well,  I  'spect  they  do.    You  never  seed  it,  eh? 
It  aint  what  you've  been  usend  to,— for  'taint  no  nat'ral  stray. 
Che  hoop !— they're  off,  with  tails  sot  straight,  a-tearin'  out  o'  sight; 
It's  bad  in  daylight,  but  it's  jest  infernal  after  night. 

Ride  round  'em,  eh?— an'  head  'em  back?    Head  back  them  Texas  steera? 
Stranger,  when  you  was  made,  was  stuff  a-runnin'  short  for  ears? 
But  then,  you've  had  no  show  to  1'arn,  jest  comin'  out  this  fall  ;— 
You're  like  them  Yankee  chaps  that  gits  round  here,  and  knows  it  all ! 

The  storm,  you  say?    Well,  Friday  last  we  had  a  little  nmss  ;— 
Jest  rain,  an'  wind,  an'  sleet,  an'  snow— I  reckon  it  couldn't  be  wuss. 
Come  dark,  them  critters  went—"  Old  hoss,"  ses  I—"  jest  let  'em  rar! 
Go  humpin'  to  the  Smoky  now— I  'spect  you'll  find  us  thar ! " 

It  wasn't  more'n  forty  mile,  I  guess,  the  way  we  run. 
I  foller'd,  eh?— I  went  along ;— you'll  allus  count  me  one. 
By  daylight  we  was  thar,  you  bet,  in  the  valley  by  the  bluff, 
An'  through  the  fioatin'  snow  I  seed  we  had  'em  sure  enough. 

Cold,  stranger?— Well,  it  wasn't  warm;— one  o'  them  coolish  days. 
Five  men  all  froze  to  death  was  found  an'  brought'n  into  Hays; — 
Besides  a  dozen  more,  with  feet,  an'  hands,  an'  other  parts, 
Used  up— an'  only  a  little  life  a-creepin'  round  their  hearts. 

Exposure,  eh?— You  mean  it's  rough?    I  can't  dispute  your  word; 
But  then  I'm  not  the  sort  o'  man  to  flunk,  an'  lose  my  herd. 
I  hired  out  to  tend  them  steers.    The  pay?    It  aint  so  high ; 
But,  stranger,  you  can  bet  your  life,  I'd  herd  'em  till  I'd  die! 

Their  families?— Well,  it's  like  enough :— I  reckon  they  had  kin; 
But  \ve  could  only  dig  their  graves,  and  lay  them  softly  in. 
Us  fellers— well,  I  s'pose  we're  rough,  but  still  we're  human  men; 
An'  we'd  be  cryin'  yet  if  'twould  bring  back  them  boys  again. 

Their  lot  was  hard?— Why  bless  your  soul— there  aint  no  lot  out  thar— 
Jest  frozen'd  graves  in  the  prairie,  for  it's  prairie  every  whar ! 
You  mean  it's  hard  to  die  that  way?    Well,  stranger,  so  we  thought : 
Five  men  a-dyin'  in  their  boots;— five  men;— an'  nary  a  shot! 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  323 


CHAPTER    XLVII. 

RAILROADS  ON  THE  PLAINS  —  SETTLEMENTS  AND  CLIMATE  —  MARCH  OF  THE 
FRONTIER — THE  DESERT  NARROWED — ORIGINAL  PACIFIC  RAILROAD  ACT — 
PERRY  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATES — CONTINENTAL  SURVEYS — IMPORTANT  RESULTS 
OF  ST.  LOUIS  ENTERPRISE  —  THE  UNKNOWN  GREAT  MEN  —  JAY  COOKE'S 
PANIC — ALMOST  A  MIRACLE  —  PERSONAL  MENTION — THE  LAST  LEMON — A 
GREAT  GOLD  MINE  —  EXPERIENCE  FOR  SALE. 

The  preceding  record  shows  what  my  views  and  works  were,  and  how 
well  they  have  been  sustained  by  events ;  and  it  also  vindicates  the  wisdom 
of  those  who  employed  me  as  Industrial  Agent  of  the  Kansas  Pacific  Rail 
way.  The  novel  mission  was  as  fully  successful  as  I  had  ever  hoped.  As 
the  pioneer  in  asserting  through  the  public  journals  that  for  arable  as  well 
as  pastoral  uses  the  great  plains  had  a  value  much  greater  than  had  been 
conceded  by  the  general  opinion,  I  wrote  freely,  but  always  in  good  faith ; 
and  if  every  line  published  in  regard  to  the  climate,  resources  and  possibili 
ties  of  the  country  could  be  put  in  one  book,  and  the  world  could  pause  to 
read  it,  the  railway  directors  under  whom  I  acted  need  not  blush  for  the 
result.  Taken  in  connection  with  local  developments,  the  book  would  prove 
not  only  that  my  assumptions  in  1870  were  correct,  but  that  the  public  inter 
ests  have  greatly  gained  by  their  promulgation  and  by  my  work  to  demon 
strate  their  correctness.  I  may  be  forgotten  in  Kansas,  but  my  marks  are 
there. 

The  industrial  department  of  the  Kansas  Pacific  was  imitated  on  the 
Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  F6  Railroad  by  the  enlistment,  for  a  time,  of 
Prof.  S.  T.  Kelsey  as  "  forester"  on  that  line,  and  his  energetic  and  judicious 
labors  were  of  much  service  in  promoting  the  spread  of  settlements  in  the 
Arkansas  valley. 

The  Texas  &  Pacific  Railroad  has  been  bringing  the  lands  along  its  line 
into  use  by  opening  farms  at  the  cost  of  the  company,  and  testing  soil  and 
climate  in  doubtful  localities,  doing  on  a  larger  scale  (because  with  greater 
means)  what  the  Kansas  Pacific  began  in  1870.  It  is  found  that  even  the 
Staked  Plain,  so  long  regarded  as  a  mysterious  region  of  supposed  desola 
tion,  can  be  made  productive,  and  this  railroad  is  now  fast  spreading  popu 
lation  over  wide  districts  which,  a  few  years  ago,  were  not  expected  ever  to 
be  occupied  by  civilized  people. 


324  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

The  St.  Louis  &  San  Francisco  Railroad,  already  extended  a  long  distance 
into  the  plains  beyond  Springfield,  on  its  way  to  Albuquerque  (and  thence 
already  open  to  the  Pacific),  will  attract  settlers  to  the  region  of  the  plains 
traversed  by  it,  so  recently  occupied  by  the  buffalo  and  the  Comanches. 

Along  these  and  other  railroads  south  of  the  Arkansas  river  settlements 
will  in  some  degree  modify  the  conditions  on  the  earth's  surface,  and  their  in 
fluence  on  the  climate  can  only  be  of  beneficial  tendency.  A  time  is  rapidly 
coming  when  in  all  parts  of  the  vast  plains  to  the  southwest,  as  well  as  on 
the  plains  of  Dakota,  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  there  will  be  farm  buildingSj 
towns,  fields,  orchards,  and  groves  of  forest  trees,  all  having  more  or  less 
effect  on  the  atmospheric  conditions  ;  and,  so  far  as  climatic  modification  is 
concerned,  the  progress  of  settlements  can  have  only  ameliorating  influen 
ces.  Railroad  builders  in  general  probably  think  little  of  these  consequences 
of  their  own  action,  but  it  is  to  be  overruled  for  the  redemption  of  a  large 
area  of  the  continent. 

"God  works  in  a  mysterious  way 
His  wonders  to  perform"; 

and  He  can  make  good  use  even  of  the  railroad  builder  as  an  instrument  in 
a  great  work  to  provide  homes  for  future  generations.  The  process  is  going 
on  over  a  very  large  region,  and  every  encroachment  of  the  "  frontier"  upon 
the  open,  arid  plains,  whether  in  Texas,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  or  Dakota,  is  so 
much  gained.  The  march  is  constant,  and  only  in  one  direction  —  into  the 
"desert,"  and  as  the  march  continues  e  desert  narrows  its  bounds.  In  a 
few  years  it  will  have  disappeared. 

But  the  world  knows  little  of  the  leaders  in  the  work  of  redeeming  the 
plains,  and  in  truth  the  leaders  themselves  did  not,  in  all  likelihood,  realize 
the  grandeur  of  the  work  they  were  doing.  It  is,  however,  easy  to  look  back 
from  expanding  results  to  those  unpretentious  citizens  with  whom  their 
causes  originated,  and  such  retrospect  only  does  justice  to  public  benefactors 
and  puts  on  record  some  facts  that  ought  not  to  be  lost. 

The  original  Pacific  Railroad  Act  of  1862  contemplated  one  main  conti 
nental  line,  from  a  point  in  the  Platte  valley  at  the  hundredth  meridian  to 
the  Pacific  ocean,  with  a  fork  from  the  Missouri  river  at  Omaha  and  one  from 
Kansas  City,  and  the  fork  first  reaching  the  point  of  junction  was  to  be  enti 
tled  to  the  continental  franchise  and  subsidies.  Vigorous  men,  with  ample 
means,  engaged  in  building  the  Omaha  branch.  Samuel  Hallet  and  his 
associates  undertook,  with  limited  resources,  to  build  the  Kansas  fork,  but 
the  powerful  combination  of  the  Omaha  line  were  determined  to  secure  the 
franchise  and  subsidies  from  the  hundredth  meridian  west,  and  by  hostile 
influences  embarrassed  the  Kansas  organization.  The  weaker  line  broke 
down,  and  the  prostrate  adventurers  appealed  to  St.  Louis  for  help. 

Mr.  John  D.  Perry  alone  responded.  He  was  at  first  the  only  capitalist 
of  St.  Louis  who  appreciated  the  merits  of  the  enterprise,  and  solitary  and 
alone  advanced  a  large  sum  of  money.  The  vitality  of  the  Kansas  line  was 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEARS.  325 

preserved,  and  this  action  of  Mr.  Perry  led  to  an  organization  to  cherish  and 
control  the  enterprise.  His  first  associates  were  Carlos  S.  Greeley,  Adol- 
phus  Meier,  Giles  F.  Filley,  Wm.  M.  McPherson,  Stephen  M.  Edgell,  Robt. 
E.  Carr,  Sylvester  H.  Laflin,  John  How,  James  Archer  and  Thomas  L. 
Price.  George  D.  Hall  and  Daniel  R.  Garrison  also  gave  material  aid,  the 
former  at  a  later  date  serving  as  director. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railway  Company.  The 
names  given  are  those  of  men  to  whom  St.  Louis  and  the  entire  West  are 
largely  indebted  for  the  industrial  development  witnessed  in  Kansas,  Col 
orado  and  elsewhere  since  1865.  They  breathed  new  life  into  a  dead  enter 
prise,  which,  but  for  them,  might  have  slept  for  years  or  passed  into  hostile 
hands. 

The  Kansas  road  was  rapidly  pushed  to  Fort  Riley,  but  from  that  point, 
instead  of  running  up  the  Republican  valley  to  join  the  Omaha  branch  at 
the  hundreth  meridian  —  according  to  the  original  design  —  the  directors 
boldly  decided  to  strike  up  the  Smoky  Hill  river  to  Denver,  to  make  their 
connection  with  the  main  continental  line  at  a  point  north  of  Denver,  and 
also  to  bear  southwest  from  some  point  on  the  Kansas  line  with  a  branch  to 
San  Diego  and  San  Francisco.  In  lieu  of  a  single  road  from  Kansas  City 
and  Leavenworth  to  the  hundredth  meridian,  their  plan  was  to  give  the 
nation  a  direct  line  to  Denver,  with  connection  through  to  the  Pacific  by 
the  Northern  line,  and  also  a  second  grand  continental  line  far  enough  south 
to  escape  the  winter  asperities  of  the  mountain  region  and  to  afford  conveni" 
ent  branches  to  New  Orleans  and  other  southern  cities. 

In  1867  surveys  were  made  under  Gen.  W.  W.  Wright  from  Fort  Wal 
lace,  near  the  west  line  of  Kansas,  to  New  Mexico.  In  1868  the  rails 
reached  Sheridan,  405  miles  from  Kansas  City,  and  the  surveys  were  ex 
tended,  under  Gen.  W.  J.  Palmer,  to  the  Pacific,  on  the  35th  and  also  the 
32d  parallels  of  latitude.  The  directors — John  D.  Perry,  Adolphus  Meier, 
Carlos  S.  Greeley,  Wm.  M.  McPherson,  Stephen  M.  Edgell,  W.  J.  Palmer, 
Thomas  L.  Price,  H.  J.  Jewett,  W.  H.  Clement,  Thomas  A.  Scott  and  John 
McManus,  with  Perry,  Meier,  Greeley,  McPherson  and  Edgell  acting  as 
executive  committee — used  all  proper  means  to  accomplish  the  large  work 
projected,  but  the  bond  subsidy  of  the  company  only  extended  to  Monu 
ment,  400  miles,  and  the  adverse  influences  exerted  by  the  Northern  line 
were  so  powerful  that  Congress  turned  its  deaf  ear  to  the  able  arguments  of 
the  Kansas  line,  and  could  not  be  induced  to  grant  further  aid.  The  saga 
cious  and  comprehensive  designs  of  the  Kansas  company,  involving  so  much 
of  national  benefit  and  greatness,  could  not  be  carried  out.  Private  capital 
had  not  yet  witnessed  the  success  of  a  continental  railroad  nor  the  progress 
of  industrial  development  due  to  railroads  in  the  plains  and  mountains. 
Hence,  without  government  aid  the  work  could  not  go  on  as  planned.  But 
had  the  grand  ideas  of  Perry,  Meier,  Greeley  and  their  associates  been  justly 
appreciated  by  Congress,  the  amount  of  the  desired  subsidies  would  have 
been  almost  entirely  saved  in  reduced  army  expenses,  Indian  outrages 


326  NOTES   TAKEN   IN    SIXTY   YEARS. 

would  have  been  averted,  and  a  great  Southern  line  would  have  been  in 
operation  to  the  Pacific  ten  years  earlier  than  ultimately  realized  ;  and  ten 
years  gained  in  the  development  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  as  well  as  in 
our  overland  intercourse  with  Old  Mexico,  would  have  been  worth  more 
than  the  entire  cost  of  the  road. 

As  events  turned  out,  the  remarkably  perfect  and  elaborate  continental 
surveys  made  by  Gen.  Palmer,  at  the  cost  of  the  Kansas  Pacific,  demon 
strated  so  clearly  the  fitness  of  the  routes  on  the  32d  and  35th  parallels  that 
other  combinations  have  since  built  railroads  on  them  ;  the  Southern  Pacific 
on  one,  and  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  on  the  other.  This  result  is  of  immense 
present  and  prospective  benefit  to  the  nation,  and,  as  realized  at  this  early 
day,  is  measurably  due  to  the  far-reaching  enterprise  of  a  few  modest  citizens 
of  St.  Louis  ;  all  of  them  unknown  to  fame,  and  certainly  not  caring  to  be 
known,  but  by  their  deeds  entitled  to  the  honors  of  history. 

New  Orleans  has  her  southern  railroad  lines  to  the  Pacific,  as  well  as  the 
jetties  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  St.  Louis  scarcely  remembers  the  work 
done  by  her  own  people  long  ago  in  aid  of  measures  which  have  resulted  so 
fortunately  for  the  Mardi  Gras  city. 

Other  consequences  grew  out  of  the  decision  of  the  Kansas  Pacific  to 
strike  westward  from  Fort  Riley,  instead  of  going  up  the  Republican  river. 
Gen.  Palmer,  after  making  his  surveys  across  the  continent,  and  in  1870 
superintending  the  completion  of  the  Kansas  track  to  Denver,  found  himself 
in  a  position  to  undertake  the  buildiug  of  that  remarkable  system  of  narrow 
gauge  lines  known  as  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande,  upon  which  work  was 
commenced  in  1871.  The  first  passenger  coaches  were  run  a  few  miles  in 
August  of  that  year,  on  the  first  road  of  the  kind  for  general  business  in  the 
Western  hemisphere.  But  little  did  any  of  us  who  were  on  that  pleasant 
excursion  foresee  the  amazing  extension  of  the  system  to  be  realized  in  a 
dozen  years. 

Not  only  by  reaching  Denver  in  1870,  and  thus  giving  to  Colorado  direct 
connection  with  the  whole  railroad  system  of  the  country  and  opening  her 
resources  to  the  world,  did  the  Kansas  Pacific  prepare  the  way  for  the  origin 
of  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  and  other  mountain  roads,  but  by  the  fact  of 
having  built  over  the  then  desolate  plains  from  Monument  to  Denver,  240 
miles,  without  bond  subsidy,  it  indirectly  gave  vitality  to  the  Atchison,  To- 
peka  and  Santa  Fe  railroad,  whose  history  since  1870  is  as  wonderful  as  a 
romance.  St.  Louis  courage  taught  Boston  capital  what  great  results  might 
be  accomplished,  even  without  the  aid  of  the  bonds  so  lavishly  granted  by 
Congress  to  the  Northern  line. 

The  direct  branch  of  the  Union  Pacific  from  Julesburg  to  Denver,  and  the 
line  of  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  on  the  plains,  are  also  remote 
consequences  of  the  pioneer  work  of  the  Kansas  Pacific,  whose  directors  not 
only  built  their  track  to  the  mountains,  and  stimulated  the  development  of 
their  wrealth,  but  also  taught  the  value  of  the  plains,  having  been  the  first 
to  bestow  attention  on  the  industrial  possibilities  of  the  reputed  "desert." 


NOTES   TAKEN   IN   SIXTY   YEAKS.  327 

What  though  the  gentlemen  of  the  Kansas  Pacific  builded  wiser  than 
they  knew  ?  What  though  they  have  never  regarded  themselves  as  bene 
factors  of  their  race  and  nation  ?  Their  works  will  live  after  them,  not  in 
men's  thoughts  or  memories,  perhaps,  but  in  the  changes  for  the  good  of 
humanity,  wrought  by  their  aid  and  influence  in  plain  and  mountain. 

The  thought  of  duty  clone — 
Of  acts  to  benefits  and  blessings  tending, 

Is  sweeter  than  applause  ignobly  won ; 
And  when  their  mortal  term  shall  reach  its  ending, 

Let  them  rest  sure  a  goodly  race  was  run. 

What  need  have  they  for  fame? 
They  nobly  wrought  and  did  their  chosen  labor ; 

Let  them  depart  in  quiet,  free  of  blame, 
Lamented  briefly  by  a  friend  or  neighbor, 

And  on  each  marble  an  unsullied  name. 

Theirs  is  no  envied  fate; 

Unblazoned  in  the  lines  of  song  or  story, 
Their  record  is  the  welfare  of  the  state ; 

A  full,  rich  measure  of  the  purest  glory- 
That  of  the  unknown  great. 

When  the  Kansas  Pacific  had  reached  Denver  in  1870,  and  by  the  Denver 
Pacific,  as  authorized  by  Congress,  connected  with  the  Union  Pacific  at  Chey 
enne,  it  was  entitled  to  interchange  continental  and  other  traffic  with  the 
latter  road  as  a  branch,  but  this  right  was  repudiated  by  the  Union  Pacific. 
The  consequence  was  that  the  Kansas  road  was  deprived  of  its  rightful  and 
expected  income,  and  when  in  1873  the  failure  of  Jay  Cooke  brought  panic 
and  ruin  on  the  country,  the  Kansas  company  was  unable  to  meet  the  inter 
est  on  its  bonds.  Its  industrial  department  went  under  in  the  storm.  No 
more  tree  planting  on  the  plains  ;  no  more  trials  of  grains  and  grasses  ;  no 
more  practical  and  instructive  essays  or  speeches  to  benefit  mankind.  The 
continent  must  take  care  of  itself.  But,  fortunately,  enough  had  been  done 
to  start  development  in  the  wilderness,  and  my  prediction,  in  a  speech  to 
the  St.  Louis  Merchants'  Exchange  in  1870,  that  settlements  in  twenty-five 
years  would  be  continuous  from  Kansas  City  to  Denver,  has  been  virtually 
realized  in  half  the  time. 

The  bravery  of  Bonaparte  has  not  been  impugned  because  of  his  flight 
after  Waterloo ;  and  if  the  directors  of  the  Kansas  Pacific  were  in  some  trepi 
dation  when  the  company  went  to  protest,  in  1873,  who  shall  fault  them  ? — 
especially  as  a  large  floating  debt,  incurred  mainly  in  completing  the  track 
to  Denver,  and  which  would  have  been  paid  by  current  income,  if  the  Union 
Pacific  had  obeyed  the  law,  was  carried  by  them  as  individuals.  But  they 
stood  up  bravely  in  the  midst  of  perils.  The  president,  Mr.  Robert  E.  Carr, 
went  to  Europe,  called  the  foreign  bondholders  together,  and -by  a  frank  and 
full  exposition  of  the  whole  case,  gained  their  assent  to  an  arrangement 
which  rescued  the  property  from  impending  sacrifice,  protected  the  inter- 


328  NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS. 

ests  of  the  stockholders,  and  ultimately  saved  the  bondholders  from  loss. 
With  the  effective  co-operation  of  Mr.  Greeley  and  other  directors  in  St. 
Louis  and  of  Mr.  D.  M.  Edgerton,  the  president  achieved  what  may  well  be 
regarded  as  almost  a  financial  miracle,  and  those  who  were  waiting  to  buy 
the  road  at  a  forced  sale  were  left  without  their  prey.  Subsequently  cir 
cumstances  occurred  which  relieved  the  directors  of  the  load  of  floating 
debt,  and  the  Kansas  Pacific  has  since  been  consolidated  with  the  Union 
Pacific.  It  is  a  pleasant  reflection  that  the  directors,  who  had  risked  so 
much  in  sustaining  a  grand  and  beneficial  public  enterprise,  escaped  all 
threatened  perils,  but  the  position  into  which  their  public  spirit  had  brought 
them  would  never  have  been  perilous  if  the  Union  Pacific  had  not  persist 
ently  repudiated  its  lawful  obligations. 

The  old  Kansas  Pacific  directors  find  their  estimate  of  gentlemen  em 
ployed  by  them  in  various  capacities  handsomely  justified  by  the  subse 
quent  careers  of  officers,  agents  and  clerks.  Col.  Adna  Anderson,  their  first 
general  superintendent,  is  chief  engineer  of  the  Northern  Pacific.  Col.  E. 
S.  Bowen,  who  succeeded  Col.  Anderson  in  the  Kansas  Pacific,  has  for  sev 
eral  years  been  general  superintendent  of  the  Erie  railway,  and  of  course 
manages  it  well  and  makes  it  successful.  Gen.  W.  J.  Palmer,  former  chief 
engineer  of  the  Kansas  Pacific,  is  widely  known  in  both  hemispheres  as  the 
president  of  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  railroad,  three  feet  gauge  and  1,650 
miles  in  operation.  Col.  Charles  B.  Lamborn,  secretary  of  the  old  K.  P.,  is 
land  commissioner  of  the  Northern  Pacific,  headquarters  at  St.  Paul,  and 
has  charge  of  a  greater  body  of  lands  than  perhaps  any  one  man  ever  before 
had  the  disposal  of.  Col.  T.  Fletcher  Oakes,  formerly  general  freight  agent 
of  the  K.  P.,  has  since  been  general  manager  of  the  Oregon  Navigation  Com 
pany,  and  is  now  known  from  end  to  end  of  the  Northern  Pacific  line  as  its 
efficient  vice-president  —equally  at  home  dispatching  business  in  his  New 
York  office  or  traversing  the  wilds  of  Montana ;  winning  all  hearts  by  his 
genial  manners,  gaming  the  confidence  of  all  classes  by  justice  in  business 
transactions  and  by  his  remarkable  executive  ability  hastening  the  comple 
tion  of  the  track  from  sea  to  sea.  Henry  Villard,  the  president  of  the  North 
ern  Pacific,  ten  years  ago  did  good  service  to  the  K.  P.  as  financial  agent. 
A.  H.  Calef,  secretary  of  the  Missouri  Pacific,  with  office  in  New  York, 
where  he  is  known  as  one  of  the  most  reliable  and  trusted  of  Mr.  Gould's 
assistants  in  the  management  of  his  vast  interests,  was  cashier  of  the  K.  P. 
and  is  well  known  in  St.  Louis.  Sylvester  T.  Smith,  general  superintendent 
of  the  present  Kansas  branches  of  the  Union  Pacific,  was  auditor  of  the  old 
K.  P.,  and  ranks  as  one  of  the  most  competent  and  reliable  railroad  men  in 
the  West.  John  Muir,  who  was  clerk  in  the  freight  department  of  the  K. 
P.,  now  holds  the  responsible  position  of  general  traffic  manager  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  on  the  west  coast.  Lilburn  G.  McNair,  a  broker  in  St. 
Louis,  entered  the  K.  P.  office  as  a  messenger  boy  in  1870.  Gerritt  W.  Vis, 
formerly  president's  secretary  in  the  K.  P.  office,  is  a  banker  in  Amsterdam, 
dealing  in  American  securities. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  329 

The  Industrial  Agent  of  the  Kansas  Pacific,  after  helping,  from  1875  to 
1879,  to  get  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  opened  by  jetties  (and  since  losing 
a  possible  million  in  the  mines  of  Dakota),  is  now  providing  for  the  entertain 
ment  of  the  world  by  writing  up  and  printing  his  "Notes"  to  circulate 
at  par. 

Capt.  Hazerodt  said,  when  Dr.  Flick  and  Sheriff  Cole  wanted  an  'ade 
compounded  of  the  last  lemon  in  his  hotel  in  Ouster  City,  Black  Hills : 

"No,  gentlemen,  I  cannot  let  you  hef  dat  lemon.  I  gif  you  my  honor 
as  a  gentleman — and  an  officer  of  de  Prooshin  army  for  fifteen  years — and 
a  joostice  of  de  peace  of  de  city  of  Custer — dat  it  is  joost  so  ez  I  tell  you : — 
I  must  keep  dat  lemon  for  de  exports  coming  in  to-morrow  to  look  at  our 
mines." 

It  was  "joost  so"  with  the  million  —  possible,  but  not  to  be  realized. 
Nature,  perhaps,  held  it  back  for  the  "exports,"  but  even  they  have  not 
secured  it.  Of  all  things  in  nature,  nothing  can  look  so  fair  and  prove  so 
false  as  a  great  gold  mine.  A  ledge  400  feet  high  and  100  wide,  with  gold  in 
every  cubic  foot,  but  not  enough  to  pay !  It  may  be  rich  in  depth,  but  we 
did  not  get  down  in  the  ledge.  We  only  got  down  on  the  surface — finan 
cially.  The  market  is  depressed  now,  but  as  soon  as  it  looks  up  a  little  we 
shall  have  a  choice  lot  of  experience  to  dispose  of. 


TO  HELENA. 
(REMINISCENT  OF  A  RAMBLE  IN  THE  BLACK  HILLS,  1880.) 

The  rosebud  is  wither' d— yet,  Lena,  'tis  still 
The  rosebud  you  gather'd  for  me  on  the  hill. 
Its  freshness  and  fragrance  no  longer  may  cheer, 
Yet,  Lena,  to  me  it  will  ever  be  dear. 

How  gaily  we  climb'd  and  how  cheerily  stroll'd  ! 
I  forgot  you  were  young — you  forgot  I  was  old; 
And  mingling  our  thoughts,  as  we  gather'd  the  flowers, 
We  forgot  all  the  world  in  those  sweet  summer  hours. 

Some  days  in  one's  life  are  to  memory  dear, 
When  cares  did  not  vex  us,  and  lov'd  ones  were  near; 
And  such  was  the  day  when  all  joyous  and  free, 
You  cull'd  the  sweet  rosebud  and  gave  it  to  me. 


CHAPTER    XLVIII. 

MOUTHS  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI — LETTERS  TO  GRANGERS — A  COG  IN  A  BIG  WHEEL 
—  JETTY  CONTROVERSY  —  CANAL  BILL  —  JETTY  ACT  —  BANQUET  SPEECH  — 
WORK  BEGUN — NEW  ORLEANS  —  OGLESBY  AND  OTHERS  —  GENIUS  AND  EN 
ERGY  OF  MR.  EADS — WORKS  AT  HEAD  OF  SOUTH  PASS — MISSISSIPPI  RIVER 
TO  BE  IMPROVED  — SOUTH  PASS  JETTY  COMPANY— PERSONAL  MENTION. 

There  are  three  principal  passes  or  mouths  to  the  Mississippi  river — the 
Southwest  Pass,  the  South  Pass,  and.  Pass-a-Loutre.  The  first  and  last  dis 
charge  each  about  45  per  cent,  of  the  river's  volume,  and  South  Pass  10  per 
cent.  The  depth  on  the  bar  of  Pass-a-Loutre  was  about  12  feet,  at  South 
Pass  8  feet,  and  at  Southwest  Pass  15  feet.  Near  Pass-a-Loutre  the  old  Balize 
village  was  situated  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  and  hence  the  mouth  of 
the  river  is  often  spoken  of  as  "  The  Balize." 

In  the  spring  of  1873  an  informal  convention  of  members  of  Congress  met 
in  St.  Louis.  Resolutions,  which,  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Eads,  had  been 
adopted  by  the  Merchants7  Exchange,  were  presented  by  him  to  the  conven 
tion  ;  one  of  them  in  favor  of  jetties  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  another 
in  favor  of  the  improvement  of  the  river  generally.  This  was  the  first  pub 
lic  declaration  of  any  organized  body  in  favor  of  jetties  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi. 

On  the  plains,  in  the  summer  of  1873,  I  wrote  letters  to  the  agricultural 
journals,  asserting  that  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  could  be  opened  by 
jetties,  and  that  such  opening  would  be  the  most  effective  statute  to  regu 
late  railroad  freights  to  the  seaboards  on  the  products  of  western  farms.  I 
was  unconsciously  preparing  the  agricultural  mind  for  the  proposal  of  Mr. 
Eads  to  build  the  jetties,  first  made  public  in  January,  1874.  I  was  a  cog  in 
a  big  wheel,  although  I  did  not  then  know  the  fact.  The  letters  helped  to 
create  the  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  jetties  which  ultimately  carried  the 
bill  through  Congress ;  but  a  great  deal  of  other  work  was  necessary  to  its 
success. 

While  in  Washington  on  railroad  business  in  1874, 1  met  Mr.  Eads,  and 
arranged  to  co-operate  with  him.  So  far  as  intellectual  enjoyment  was  con 
cerned,  no  arrangement  could  have  been  happier.  I  had  thought  that  I 
knew  him  before,  but  I  found  that  he  had  a  range  of  intellectual  resources  of 
which  I  had  not  conceived,  and  that  his  mind  seemed  to  expand  and  grow 
as  its  forces  were  needed  to  surmount  obstacles.  I  now  look  back  on  those 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN   SIXTY  YEARS.  331 

labors  with  double  satisfaction  because  of  the  great  result  of  an  open  river 
mouth,  to  which  they  were  instrumental,  and  of  the  current  enjoyment  of 
the  task. 

Mr.  Eads  had  in  March,  1874,  addressed  to  Senator  Windom  a  masterly 
exposition  of  the  river's  action,  predic;ing  that  the  problem  of  securing  a 
good  outlet  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Gulf  would  never  be  solved  except 
by  jetties.  "  That  they  will  ultimately  be  resorted  to,"  he  said,  "  is  as  cer 
tain  as  that  commerce  and  agriculture  will  increase  in  the  valley."  But 
official  opinion  was  against  him.  A  board  of  five  Army  Engineers  (only 
one,  Gen.  Barnard,  dissenting)  had  reported  against  the  jetty  system,  and 
in  favor  of  a  ship  canal  from  the  river  at  Fort  St.  Philip  to  the  gulf  at  Breton 
Bay  ;  and  Gen.  Humphreys,  then  Chief  of  the  Engineer  Corps,  put.forth  an 
elaborate  essay  against  jetties,  insisting  that,  if  they  were  put  at  Southwest 
Pass,  the  bar  would  advance  into  the  sea  so  rapidly  that  in  order  to  main 
tain  a  channel  of  28  feet  the  jetties  must  be  prolonged  at  the  rate  of  twelve 
hundred  feet  a  year !  The  entire  Corps  of  Army  Engineers  was  against  any 
permission  to  Mr.  Eads  to  improve  the  pass  by  jetties,  even  at  his  own  risk ; 
and  many  civilians  were  also  earnestly  hostile. 

The  controversy,  in  pamphlets  and  oral  discussions  before  committees  of 
Congress,  was  remarkably  spirited,  and  engineering  principles  and  assump 
tions  were  discussed  with  distinguished  ability.  The  position  of  Mr.  Eads, 
with  his  jetty  project,  was  something  like  that  of  Stephenson  and  his  rail 
roads  before  the  committees  of  Parliament ;  but  every  objection  was  met 
with  effective  argument.  All,  however,  could  not  then  carry  the  jetties, 
and  in  June,  1874,  the  bill  appropriating  $8,000,000  to  begin  the  canal  passed 
the  House. 

Impressed  by  the  arguments  of  Mr.  Eads,  the  Senate  rejected  the  canal 
bill ;  and  finally,  at  his  suggestion,  an  act  was  passed  for  a  mixed  commis 
sion  of  government  and  civil  engineers  to  report  on  the  best  mode  of  1m- 
proving  the  river's  mouth.  In  January,  1875,  this  commission  reported  in 
favor  of  the  jetty  system,  but  recommended  the  small  South  Pass  for  im 
provement  instead  of  the  great  Southwest  Pass. 

Notwithstanding  this  unfortunate  selection  of  the  South  Pass  by  the 
commission,  the  friends  of  the  jetty  system  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
adhered  to  the  greater  pass.  Stanard,  Stone,  Wells,  Clark,  and  other  Mis 
souri  members,  were  unceasingly  active.  The  committee,  after  hearing  Mr. 
Eads,  reported  the  bill  for  the  Southwest  Pass  as  desired.  Mr.  Stanard  had 
charge  of  it  in  the  House,  and  handled  it  so  ably  that  it  passed  without 
division.  But  the  Senate,  conforming  to  the  commission's  report,  changed 
the  bill  to  the  South  Pass,  and  in  this  shape  it  became  a  law  March  3d,  1875. 
On  his  return  to  St.  Louis,  Mr.  Eads,  at  a  banquet  given  by  the  citizens  in 
his  honor,  said  of  his  proposed  work  : 

"  Every  atom  that  moves  onward  in  the  river,  from  the  moment  it  leaves 
its  home  amid  the  crystal  springs  or  mountain  snows,  throughout  the  fifteen 


332  NOTES   TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

hundred  leagues  of  its  devious  pathway,  until  it  is  finally  lost  in  the  gulf,  is 
controlled  by  laws  as  fixed  and  certain  as  those  which  direct  the  majestic 
march  of  the  heavenly  spheres.  ^Every  phenomenon  and  apparent  eccen 
tricity  of  the  river — its  scouring  and  depositing  action,  its  caving  banks,  the 
formation  of  the  bars  at  its  mouth,  the  effect  of  the  waves  and  tides  of  the 
sea  upon  its  currents  and  deposits — is  controlled  by  laws  as  immutable  as 
the  Creator ;  and  the  engineer  needs  only  to  be  assured  that  he  does  not 
ignore  the  existence  of  any  of  these  laws,  to  feel  positively  certain  of  the 
result  he  aims  at.  I  therefore  undertake  the  work  with  a  faith  based  upon 
the  ever-constant  ordinances  of  God  himself ;  and,  so  certain  as  He  will 
spare  my  life  and  faculties,  I  will  give  to  the  Mississippi  River,  through  His 
grace  and  by  the  application  of  His  laws,  a  deep,  open,  safe,  and  permanent 
outlet  to  the  sea." 

The  actual  construction  of  the  jetties  was  begun  by  the  contractors, 
James  Andrews  &  Co.,  in  June,  1875,  and  continued  until  their  completion. 
E.  L.  Corthell,  Chief  Assistant  Engineer,  in  his  History  of  the  Jetties,* 
gives  details  of  the  difficulties,  perils,  and  triumphs  of  the  enterprise.  The 
book  has  the  interest  of  a  romance  combined  with  the  solidity  of  truth. 

Having  been  persuaded  that  the  Fort  St.  Philip  canal  was  their  only  hope 
as  an  outlet  to  the  gulf,  the  people  of  New  Orleans  were  at  first  almost 
unanimously  opposed  to  the  jetty  project.  Mr.  G.  W.  R.  Bay  ley ,  an  eminent 
civil  engineer,  stood  alone  as  an  advocate  of  the  jetty  system.  But  when 
work  was  at  length  begun,  New  Orleans  sustained  it  effectively.  During 
the  darkest  days  there  was  always  some  light  in  her  financial  circles. 
Joseph  H.  Oglesby  was  a  conspicuous  friend  and  supporter  of  the  enterprise, 
as  were  also  Samuel  H.  Kennedy,  B.  D.  Wood,  and  other  citizens  of  promi 
nence,  who  gave  it  large  material  aid.  New  Orleans  now  reaps  a  splendid 
harvest  from  seed  sown  by  those  of  her  enterprising  and  courageous  busi 
ness  men  who  participated  in  the  work  of  opening  her  port. 

It  would  take  a  volume  to  do  even  partial  justice  to  the  genius  and  en 
ergy  displayed  by  Mr.  Eads  in  the  engineering  discussions,  in  providing 
financial  means,  in  the  modes  of  executing  the  work,  and  in  securing  the 
passage  of  two  amendatory  acts  of  Congress.  The  world  will  only  know 
that  he  built  the  jetties,  and  proved  the  soundness  of  his  views.  It  will 
never  know  the  almost  miraculous  ability,  the  patience,  fortitude,  and  per 
sistent  labor  needed  and  exerted  to  achieve  success. 

Looking  back  to  1874,  we  see  that  the  intervention  of  Mr.  Eads  with  his 
jetty  project  saved  the  nation  from  the  costly  error  of  a  ship  canal,  which 
would  scarcely  have  been  completed  yet,  and  whose  entrance  from  the  gulf 
could  hardly  have  been  reached  at  all  during  storms.  Since  1876  the  jetty 
channel  has  been  available  for  vessels  of  larger  class  than  ever  before  entered 
the  river,  and  since  1879  the  commerce  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  has  had  a 

*  Published  by  John  Wiley  &  Son,  15  Astor  Place,  New  York,  1880. 


NOTES  TAKEN   IN  SIXTY  YEAKS.  333 

channel  of  thirty  feet  through  the  bar  of  South  Pass  to  the  sea.  The  only 
regret  is  that  the  jetty  system  was  not  applied,  as  proposed  by  Mr.  Eads 
and  his  associates,  at  the  great  Southwest  Pass  instead  of  the  lesser  South 
Pass.  Even  through  this  Pass,  where  the  natural  depth  was  only  eight  feet 
on  the  bar,  the  jetties  have  given  New  Orleans  a  port  entrance  superior  to 
that  of  New  York  ;  but  the  present  prosperity  of  our  great  Southern  city, 
the  development  of  her  railroad  system  by  capital  attracted  even  from  the 
Pacific  slope,  the  great  lines  of  ocean  steamers,  and  the  projected  World's 
Fair  of  1884,  are. only  a  few  of  the  consequences  resulting,  directly  or  indi 
rectly,  from  the  works  of  Mr.  Eads  and  those  who  co-operated  with  him. 

South  Pass  had  not  only  a  bar  at  its  mouth,  with  only  eight  feet  of  water 
on  it,  but  it  had  also  a  shoal  in  the  main  river,  at  its  head,  with  only  four 
teen  feet.  To  get  the  water  out  of  the  pass  into  the  sea  was  a  simple  prob 
lem  compared  with  that  of  cutting  through  this  shoal  and  securing  a  chan 
nel  from  the  main  river  into  the  pass.  The  river  at  the  head  of  the  pass  is 
about  two  miles  wide,  but  the  works  readily  accomplished  their  purpose, 
gave  a  deep  channel,  and  have  taught  lessons  in  practical  river  engineering 
worth  to  the  nation  ten  times  the  cost  of  the  jetties.  "  There  is  no  instance 
in  the  world,"  says  Corthell,  "  where  such  a  vast  volume  of  water  is  placed 
under  such  absolute  and  permanent  control  by  the  engineer,  by  methods 
so  economic  and  simple  as  those  adopted  at  the  head  of  the  passes  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  works  are  composed  almost  wholly  of  light  willows,  with 
a  large  portion  of  the  mattresses  standing  on  edge,  simply  as  screens  to 
check  the  current  and  cause  deposit.  They  constitute  a  remarkable  illus 
tration  of  how  completely  the  immense  forces  of  Nature  may  be  controlled 
by  the  wise  use  of  the  most  inexpensive  and  unsubstantial  materials,  which 
Nature  seemingly  places  within  convenient  reach  of  man  for  the  very 
purpose." 

These  works  of  the  jetty  builders,  unique  and  unprecedented  as  they  were, 
have  shown  how  readily  the  majestic  river  can  be  mastered.  The  principles 
relied  on  by  the  Mississippi  River  Commission  for  the  improvement  of  the 
navigation  below  Cairo,  and  the  lowering  of  the  flood  line,  are  illustrated 
by  the  works  of  Mr.  Eads  at  the  head  of  South  Pass.  Compared  with  the 
means  used,  the  results  are  the  grandest  ever  achieved  in  hydraulic  engi 
neering  ;  and  the  lessons  they  teach  will  not  be  forgotten. 

As  the  engineering  problems  come  to  be  understood,  the  Mississippi  river 
will,  in  time,  be  made  to  dig  out  its  channel  deep  enough  to  carry  its  floods 
rapidly  and  harmlessly  to  the  sea,  commerce  will  have  at  all  seasons  an  am 
ple  pathway,  and  inundations  will  be  unknown.  Thirty  thousand  square 
miles  of  rich  soil  will  be  redeemed  from  overflowing  waters,  and  all  at  a 
cost  insignificant  in  comparison  with  the  grand  results. 

The  United  States  will  have  a  population  of  about  sixty- three  millions  in 
1890,  and  eighty  millions  in  1900.  The  majority  will  be  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghenies.  To  say  that  we  shall  allow  the  great  river  to  remain  in  its  present 


334  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

imperfect  and  destructive  condition,  is  to  say  that  we  do  not  understand  the 
interests  of  the  nation,  or  our  own  power. 

The  South  Pass  Jetty  Company  was  a  financial  corporation  organized  in 
St.  Louis  to  aid  the  jetty  enterprise.  Julius  S.  Walsh,  Web.  M.  Samuel, 
D.  P.  Rowland,  and  John  C.  Maude,  of  St.  Louis,  and  Jacob  Thompson,  of 
Memphis,  were  Directors ; — Mr.  Walsh,  President ;  Mr.  Samuel,  Viee*-Presi- 
dent,  and  R.  S.  Elliott,  Secretary.  In  1878  a  new  Board  was  chosen :  John 
Jackson,  James  Lupe,  Mason  G.  Smith,  Isaac  Cook,  and  E.  P.  Curtis,  of 
St.  Louis;  — Mr.  Jackson,  President;  Mr.  Lupe,  Vice-President,  and  Mr. 
Elliott,  Secretary.  The  company  fulfilled  its  purpose  and  was  dissolved  in 
1879,  each  stockholder  having  been  repaid  his  investment  with  interest  at 
10  per  cent,  per  annum,  and  a  stipulated  profit.  As  the  record  stands, 
this  company  was  essential  to  the  construction  of  the  jetties,  and  its  mem 
bers  are  entitled  to  a  place  in  history  as  aiders  in  the  work  of  opening  the 
river's  mouth. 

G.  W.  R.  Bayley,  of  New  Orleans,  whose  professional  ability  ranked  him 
in  the  first  class  of  civil  engineers,  was  an  early  advocate  of  the  jetty  system, 
and  as  Resident  Engineer  had  general  charge  of  the  works  until  his  death, 
in  December,  1876.  E.  L.  Corthell,  who  had  been  Chief  Assistant  (and  is  now 
Chief  Engineer  of  the  Tehuantepec  Ship  Railway),  then  took  entire  charge. 
He  was  ably  seconded  by  Max  E.  Schmidt,  whose  talents  and  acquirements 
found  ample  scope  in  his  varied  duties.  W.  L.  Webb,  W.  S.  Morton,  H.  W. 
Parkhurst,  F.  A.  Gladding,  A.  O.  Wilson,  and  Willard  Lawes,  were  Assist 
ant  Engineers,  and  did  faithful  service. 

Having  been  an  early  business  partner  of  Mr.  Eads,  and  an  efficient  co- 
worker  on  the  gunboats  and  the  St.  Louis  Bridge,  Capt.  William  S.  Nelson 
brought  his  ripe  experience  and  peculiar  fitness  to  the  aid  of  the  jetties. 
When  pestilence  assailed  the  enterprise  in  1878,  the  ever-faithful  Nelson 
remained  on  duty  till  stricken,  and  was  barely  able  to  reach  his  St.  Louis 
home  to  die.  A  better  man,  or  truer  friend,  who  has  ever  known  ? 

Mr,  Corthell,  in  his  History  of  the  Jetties,  gives  some  names  of  "em 
ployes  deserving  honorable  mention"  as  connected  with  the  jetty  works : 
W.  L.  Wright,  Chief  Clerk  and  Paymaster  at  Port  Eads ;  W.  J.  Karmer, 
Cashier  and  Agent  at  New  Orleans ;  Thomas  T.  Rubey,  Captain  of  Steamer 
Grafton ;  Geo.  W.  Adams,  Captain  of  dredgeboat  Bayley ;  M.  C.  Tully,  Mate 
of  Bayley;  John  Eraser,  Captain  of  tug  Brearly ;  F.  C.  Welschans,  W.  J. 
Matthews,  and  A.  W.  Wire,  Telegraph  Operators  ;  and  James  Keefe,  Chaun- 
cey  Hoadley,  Wm.  Tinsley,  John  Holland,  H.  C.  Blanchard,  George  L. 
Mitchell,  Joseph  Greppin,  Peter  McGee,  John  McGee,  Wm.  Faber,  John  T. 
Heuston,  and  Spencer  F.  Rous,  master  mechanics,  steam  engineers,  or  fore 
men,  entrusted  with  the  various  departments  of  pile-driving,  mattress- 
making,  &c.  &c.  It  is  a  roll  of  honor;  for  all  were  faithful  —  some,  in  the 
yellow  fever  season  of  1878,  even  unto  death. 


NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS.  335 


EPILOGUE. 


In  the  olden  time  it  was  the  custom,  in  Theatres,  to  have  a  piece  spoken 
before  the  Play  and  one  after :  the  PROLOGUE  and  the  EPILOGUE. 

The  old  time  Prologue  conciliated  the  Audience,  and  my  first  chapter, 
having  captivated  the  Reader,  may  serve  as  a  Prologue.  I  have,  therefore, 
only  to  provide  an  Epilogue. 

The  old  time  Epilogue  was  never,  I  believe,  an  apology  for  the  Play,  but 
rather  a  congratulation  of  the  Audience  upon  their  enjoyment  of  it;  and 
hence,  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  Old  Stagers,  I  must  congratulate  the 
happy  Readers  of  this  Book  upon  their  good  fortune. 

Never  having  been  in  a  Theatre  where  an  Epilogue  was  spoken,  I  do  not 
know  how  it  was  received,  but  have  a  notion  that  the  audience  paid  little 
attention  to  it,  and  probably  dispersed  during  its  delivery.  Having  enjoyed 
the  Play,  they  may  not  have  cared  for  any  added  pleasure.  Hence,  if  I  ever 
discover  that  any  of  those  so  lucky  as  to  have  read  this  Book  have  failed  to 
peruse  its  Epilogue,  I  shall  think  of  the  old  Play,  and  will  rest  assured  that 
the  volume  afforded  them  a  full  measure  of  enjoyment.  As  pleasure  is 
hardly  ever  without  some  alloy,  I  shall  imagine  them  lamenting  the  sad 
fate  of  those  who  may  not  have  read  it ;  just  as  I  have  often  been  unhappy 
before  a  good  fire  in  winter,  because  everybody  else  could  not  be  as  warm 
and  comfortable. 

That  this  Book — the  best  of  its  kind  and  the  only  one — is  to  have  an  ex 
tensive  sale,  I  do  not  permit  myself  to  doubt.  Although  we  never  brag  of 
ourselves,  it  is  yet  well  known  that  the  American  people  are  superior  to  all 
others,  and  know  a  good  thing  when  they  see  it.  Still,  it  may  be  that  the 
Book  has  not  enough  EGOTISM  in  it  for  popularity.  The  few  friends  who 
have  seen  the  manuscript,  have  all  declared  that  they  liked  the  personal 
details  best !  Nor  is  this  so  strange  as  it  may  seem.  If  a  memoir  of  the 
private  life  of  William  Shakspeare  could  be  discovered,  we  would  read  it 
with  more  avidity  than  the  Plays  which  bear  his  name.  David  Copperfield 
is  dearer  to  us  when  we  imagine  that  Charles  Dickens  was  in  some  degree 
painting  his  own  likeness.  The  personal  stories  of  your  modestest  neigh 
bors  might  have  an  interest  greater  than  that  of  fictitious  characters  doing 
and  suffering  the  same  things. 

But,  if  I  have  failed  in  Egotism,  I  can  reflect  with  pleasure  that  no  man 
or  woman  will  be  made  worse  by  this  book.  The  cooing  of  the  dove  is  not 


336  NOTES  TAKEN  IN  SIXTY  YEARS. 

more  harmless  than  these  Notes,  which  may  raise  no  one  up  to  a  higher 
moral  plane,  but  will  certainly  drag  no  one  down. 

Having  in  recent  years  been  engaged  in  some  works  of  general  public 
benefit,  on  the  Great  Plains  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Great  River,  I  have 
briefly  told  of  them ;  aiming  rather  to  magnify  the  importance  of  the  works 
than  to  boast  of  my  own  agency  in  their  execution.  There  are  men  who 
would  claim  a  larger  measure  of  credit ;  but  the  aggregate  of  human  kind 
that  we  style  the  world,  might  not  be  more  likely  to  pay.  It  is  a  self-suffi 
cing  world ;  accepts  readily  the  best  services  rendered  to  it ;  does  not  like  to 
be  importuned,  and  only  pays  when  it  feels  in  the  humor.  Besides,  it  owes 
more  than  it  can  pay.  The  honest,  patient,  faithful  toilers,  of  whom  no 
record  is  ever  kept— obscure,  but  great  in  their  works— are  they  not  legion? 
How  can  the  trump  of  Fame  sound  for  us  all?  Think  of  the  intolerable 
clamor ! 

Soon  the  ebb-tide  will  have  swept  us  into  the  unfathomed  sea;  but  while 
we  linger  on  the  shore,  we  may  know  that  if  we  have  done  any  good  work 
it  will  not  all  perish,  even  if  unrecognized  or  forgotten.  The  uninscribed 
monuments  outnumber  all  others,  and  every  man  builds  his  own  ;  invisible 
to  the  finite  vision,  perhaps,  but  palpable  to  the  Infinite. 

In  one  enduring  Monument  I  can  fairly  claim  a  share.  The  Commerce 
of  an  Empire  bows  to  it  every  day  in  the  year,  and  it  will  outlast  the  mem 
ory  of  some  Battlefields.  It  is  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  Corthell, 
who  has  himself  a  share,  in  closing  his  excellent  History  of  this  Monument, 
says  truly: 

"In  a  score  of  centuries  the  SOUTH  PASS  JETTIES  may  be  buried  beneath 
"  the  vast  deposits  which  the  river  floods  will  accumulate  upon  and  even 
"  beyond  them  as  the  delta  advances  into  the  gulf,  and  it  may  become  ne- 
11  cessary  for  some  generation  in  the  distant  future  to  repeat  the  work  of 
"  this;  but  the  JETTY  PRINCIPLE  has  been  so  clearly  proven  to  be  in  per- 
"  feet  harmony  with  the  laws  of  Nature,  that  either  at  the  mouth  of  South 
"  Pass,  or  some  pass  of  the  Mississippi  river,  Jetties  will  be  maintained  for- 
"  ever.  So  long  as  the  husbandman  tills  the  soil  of  the  great  valley,  so  long 
"  shall  he  find  for  his  productions  a  natural  highway  to  the  world  through 

"  AN  OPEN  RIVER  MOUTH.' 

CorthelFs  book  came  to  me  in  1881  with  this  inscription : 

"  Presented  to  Col.  R.  S.  Elliott,  Secretary  of  the  South  Pass  Jetty  Com- 
"  pany— one  of  my  most  earnest  and  effective  co-workers  in  the  Jetty  enter- 
"  prize— by  his  sincere  friend, 

JAMES  B.  EADS." 

My  Dear  Readers,  good-bye!  May  you  all  be  rich  enough  to  enjoy  the 
bliss  of  giving !  And  may  vou  all  be  as  lucky  as  I  am !— if  ever  unhappy, 
only  through  misfortune ! 


THIS    BOOK    IS    DUE    ON    THE    LAST    DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN  THIS  BOOK 
ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY  WILL  INCREASE  TO 
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SEVENTH  DAY  OVERDUE. 


DEC  I  3  1967 


Book  SIip-20m-3,'60(A9205s4)458 


Elliott,  R.S. 

Notes  taken  in  sixty 

-rr^n-vtf* 

E I  Ifoii 


Call  Number: 


225503 


